


Round 2

by ForcedRedacted



Series: Raven [2]
Category: Baldur's Gate
Genre: Evil party, bhaalspawn uses game mechanics, no beta we just die, that quicksave though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:40:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 41,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21729952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForcedRedacted/pseuds/ForcedRedacted
Summary: Revenge was a dish best served a number of ways, but now it's time for Round 2. Follow Damiondred Jetovski as he hunts down the latest person that makes his Bhaalspawn blood boil.I have yet to go back and edit the mistakes I've found, but... Well, as the tag says. No beta, we just die.The first dozen chapters were done from memories of the game, without the game. That's why they're really spotty. Might go back and rewrite them sometime.
Series: Raven [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1566166
Comments: 9
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

Damiondred stared at the ceiling of his cage, wondering a great number of things. He could figure out the first one (that being how long he had been down here) through the senses of his familiar simply by eavesdropping. Three months, two days, and a handful of hours since it currently was roughly noon. He knew too that he was somewhere in the city of Athkatla, the city of coin and capital of Amn. He also knew that the mage that had him imprisoned wasn't an idiot, and that it was only sheer, dumb luck that his familiar wasn't stuck in there with him or killed.

Or worse. Experimentation seemed to be the name of the game, and some days he felt like he only knew who he was because of Crim, otherwise his head felt three feet thick and stuffed with cotton. The bhaalspawn had tried to escape a number of times already, and each failure had been met with an increase in pain and (currently) a large flat board loaded with weights pressing down on him. By his reckoning, he would be slowly crushed for another hour until the mage came by and removed them from-

"Pssst! Hey, are you alive?"

He jerked slightly, frowning as he was pulled from his thoughts. "You're early. Look, I didn't believe in your hallucinations last time, why do you think I'll fall for them this time?"

"Don't be all buffleheaded, it's really me!"

Eyes narrowing, he tilted his head as best he could to blink as a blurry pinkish form pulled the door open and started hauling weights off of him. "... Imoen?"

"Just hold on, I'll get these off of you. Geeze, he sure loaded you up, didn't he."

"Probably something to do with how I ripped the door right off of the cage last time." The bhaalspawn fought the urge to suck in a deep breath of air, trying to get his ribs used to the lack of weight on them before he shifted his arms and pressed upwards on the board. "Look out. I'm going to slide this while thing sideways. How did you get out?"

"There's people fighting all over the place. I think some of his enemies found the place, and are tryin' to raid it." Imoen shifted aside, turning and keeping watch as the archer grunted and heaved. The board tipped to the side, sending weights crashing to the floor before he weaseled out from under the rest of it and slowly pushed himself up. "We've gotta escape this place, Dami. Jaheira and Minsc're just over there."

"What about Khalid and Dynaheir?" The Bhaalspawn stretched, wincing slightly at the ache in his bones before stepping out of the cage.

"Dami... Dynaheir died when we were attacked. Don't you remember?" She peered at him, and he blinked for a moment before frowning. "Hey, it's okay. We'll talk about it when we get out've here, alright? I hurt all over, like my bones're made out of little knives and my head hurts. I don't think he was much nicer to you. I don't know where Khalid is, either."

"No, no he wasn't. Let's get everyone we can and get out of here, Immy." He turned and scanned the area, meeting Jaheira's eyes before finally settling on where Minsc lay, languishing in his own cell.

First things first.

"Minsc." Damiondred leaned casually against the bars. "So much for the Mighty Rashemi Berserkers. Look at you, laying there."

"You dare? After all that Minsc and Boo have done for you?" Haunted eyes looked back out at the archer and narrowed at the mocking expression they found. "Go awa-"

"All you've done for me? You barely did anything. You couldn't protect Imoen! Small wonder why, when you couldn't even protect _Dynaheir._ " Damion idly started to pick at his nails, stepping back from the cage as Minsc surged to his feet and slammed his hands against the bars of the cage. The door rattled in its frame.

"Don't you _DARE_ speak to Minsc about-!"

"She's probably rolling over in her grave, every time she thinks about how you failed her. Oh wait, that's right. She didn't get a grave, did she. Sorry, rolling over _in her ditch_."

"YoooUUU!" Minsc slammed into the door of the cage, hauling on the frame and twisting the metal out of shape before tearing the door off the hinges and stepping forward, snarling and seething before a slightly dirty hamster chomped on his earlobe and tugged hard. "Eh? Wh-? The bars bent and broke before my strength! Ohh, you sneaky... You said all that just to get me mad!"

"Worked for me. I figured you should be able to do the same thing, considering I've never beaten you in an arm wrestling competition while you were angry. I'm sorry, for what I said." The archer offered out a hand, and the rashemi echoed the gesture, reaching forward so that they clasped forearms instead. "Let's get Jaheira and get out of here."

"There should be a key in the office just over there. It's not our gear, but I saw some weapons there too." Imoen turned and pointed, before looking back at the two that had been freed and then at the druid.

"Take Minsc with you. You said this place is being attacked, and I need to try something before I get much further." He waved at the two of them as they nodded and left, before sitting down next to Jaheira's cage. "I know roughly where we are, if only because Crim only has a mental range of about a mile. We tested it a few times to see if we couldn't triangulate where we are, so the only thing I can think of is that we're somewhere under Athkatla."

The half-elf eyed him frowning. "Your familiar yet lives?"

"Yeah. He was out scouting ahead when we were hit from behind and followed the horses. After falling behind it was a lot of flying around trying to mentally contact me, and eventually he managed to. I've asked him about any disturbances topside, and he said he'd keep an eye out."

"We got the key! There wasn't all that much in the way of armor, either, and nobody's spellbooks but Minsc's got armor on now and brought some for both've you too." Imoen stuffed the key into the lock, twisting it and pulling the door open. The half-elf nodded, stepping up as the ranger offered out a set of splint, a shield and a scimitar, before helping her don the items. Imoen offered a chain shirt to the archer, who nodded and slipped it over his head before accepting the shortsword and dagger she offered. He looked over the group assembled and nodded as Minsc hefted a two handed sword.

"Alright. Let's go."

* * *

The bows the kobolds and goblins used were a bit short for his tastes, so Damiondred left all the arrows and the bow to his sister as they four of them stepped quietly through the halls. All seemed to be going well until they found a room filled with tanks, and Imoen informed them that the things in them had once been human. Jaheira had gone a little pale at that, but it was no worse than when they met one of the creatures in a tank that actually spoke to them and begged for death. They obliged, and after pulling the power crystal from its casing he set a hand on his sisters shoulder, rocking her gently. He told everyone to stay outside of the room with the tanks while he went through and plugged the crystal into each tank, learning what he could before leaving the room. They activated the sewer golem, collected acorns for the dryads, freed the Djinni and raided two bedrooms after thoroughly disabling the traps and alarms in both. This resulted in looting two partially filled spellbooks, a double handful of scrolls, a number of wand-like keys and a two handed sword that was 'supposedly' touched by Damiondred's essence, though as he studied the blade he felt more that it had only been 'touched by his essence' by way of Sarevok trying to kill him with it. Minsc gave him a few pointers on how to use it during the short rest they took to give Jaheira a chance to tend to the group's wounds and to give Imoen and the archer a moment to study the spellbooks as best they could.

Girded and prepared as best they could be, they stepped through the portal and immediately stalled as they came face to face with a dusky skinned human with black hair and a piercing in his eyebrow.

"So, there is sanity in all this madness! If you are not in league with the evil that dwells in this place, Yoshimo begs your assistance." He smiled uncertainly, hands raised, and Damiondred lowered his shortsword to peer at him and then at the air over his shoulder where his double frowned and nodded.

_His name really is Yoshimo._

"Well met then, Yoshimo. How did you end up here?"

"Captured, much as yourself I would say by the look of you." He smiled good naturedly, and the bhaalspawn returned it easily, gesturing for him to fall into step with them. "Ah! We will escape this prison together then! Good."

"Stay behind Minsc and keep that bow of yours leveled and at the ready." Damiondred gestured to the rashemi - arguably the healthiest person in the group and least likely to die if he was shot in the back - while moving to the door at the end of the hall. Jaheira and Imoen exchanged a glance that said the placement of the new guy spoke volumes to them about how little he trusted them. "Alright. Everyone ready?"

They were not, in fact, wholly ready. It took long enough for the bhaalspawn archer to destroy the portals that the druid called for a rest as the last of them fell to do what she could for the newly acquired wounds. As he and Imoen cased the room for valuables they were thankful that they were doing so while she was busy, because they found the remains of Khalid.

"He would cut and they ask 'do you see?', ask again while he cut, over and over and over. I didn't want to see, didn't want to watch-" The thief lifted her hands to her head, shaking as Damiondred wrapped his arms around her and rocked where they stood. It was only after she stopped shaking that he turned and dragged one of the tapestries over his corpse, almost jumping as Jaheira came up behind him.

"What are you...? No, Sylvanus no, Khalid-!" Jaheira stepped around Damion as the bhaalspawn turned, wrapping his arms around her as she reached for the cloth. She shrieked and fought until she finally gave up, slumping and muttering.

"He was... He was already dead, when he did this. He didn't suffer-"

She twisted slightly in the mandatory hug to practically spit at Imoen, who flinched back and raised her hands. "Shut up! You-"

"Jaheira, I know. I -know-. I watched my father -die-. We've all lost people. We can mourn him once we get _out_ of here, but right now we need to -move-. Fight for the living until we can get a moment where we're not looking over our shoulder every twelve seconds."

The druid looked up at the bhaalspawn, swallowed and nodded quietly before he let her go before narrowing her eyes at him. "... What... Did you do to me?"

"Emotional manipulation enhanced by logic and bit of bhaalspawn taint. It started working on more than just Xzar after I killed Sarevok. It'll wear off, but I don't have much of a choice. If we get caught, we're going to end up dead and I'm not leaving you behind. Khalid would haunt me forever if I did."


	2. Chapter 2

_There was eight of them, traveling together, and while sometimes minor disputes arose they were usually settled pretty quickly. So long as he acted like he behaved and kept his mouth shut it wasn't so bad. Damiondred had even started helping him dissect and harvest reagents from bodies when they weren't practicing and learning the limitations of his budding power, and if that didn't help cultivate **faith** then he didn't know what would. It was usually done in the middle of the night and a good distance away from the party, but all the best things happened during the witching hour anyways so it wasn't like there was anything being truly lost. He never managed to get the bhaalspawn to actually -eat- any of the humanoids, though he did agree that if there wasn't anything else to eat knowing what he could spare and still function was useful._

_He should have seen it coming. He was supposed to watch the archer's back, and instead had been drawn into idle conversation about different methods of casting magic with the Evereskan. A volley of crossbow bolts swept through the party from the bushes on either side of the road, catching them by surprise before black clad figures leapt out and fell upon the party. Damiondred reacted faster than anyone else, turning and shoving his sister down even as he jerked and looked down curiously at the bolt that seemed to have sprouted from his side._

_The world erupted into chaos as the party fought back, waves of magical fear emanating and sending people fleeing in all directions. By the time he had gathered his wits and made it back to the site of the battle, the only things that stood to prove that there had been a fight in the first place was three corpses, a groggy Branwen and scorch marks scattered about. He left instructions for her to wait for the rest of the group while he animated one of the corpses and followed it while it headed back the way it had come when it was alive._

_He found the camp they had used, but nothing of any great value. Turning, he clutched at his chest and howled, the sound of a wounded beast. He drew a dagger, falling upon the corpse that had led him there and-_

Xzar sat up in bed, dagger drawn as he sucked in a breath and held it. Willing his heart to calm, he took careful stock of the room and, belatedly, realized he had once again woken before the sun. He was getting less and less sleep, and it did not bode well. Outside, somewhere along the docks, someone screamed and he shook his head to clear it while sheathing the dagger.

Rolling out of bed, he put his feet under him and started to prepare for another day of wandering aimlessly, following the subtle tug he wasn't even certain was more than a hallucination. Green robes of the evil archmagi, check. License for magical use, expensive and present. Gorion's dagger, the one Damiondred had given him to kill Sarevok with, belted at his waist. Somewhat harder to lose that last one, considering he slept with it under his pillow.

Sitting in front of the mirror at his desk, he studied the circles under his eyes and dug out his shaving supplies. Three months without wearing the pattern of mourning, he mused as he finished washing his face. Three months with the subtle wavy lines that crossed the frown lines on his forehead and disappeared into his hair and the two lines of stars that rested under his kohl-lined eyes. It was a pattern that spoke of pained rebirth, he mused to himself as he finished the last of the stars. He refused to wear mourning again until he found proof that the bhaalspawn was dead.

Pulling his hood up, he stepped out into the darkness that came before the dawn, put his hand on his chest, and prayed.

* * *

He was at the bridge, looking over the railing as he internally cursed at another six hour stretch of... Nothing. Random corpses and only the faintest wisp of a tickle within his third eye today, just as it had been for the last handspan of weeks. Divination had failed him. The rumour mill had failed him. Torturing and interrogating the one person dressed similarly to the knaves that had stolen _his_ bhaalspawn had yielded nothi-

Something small, black green and red arrowed past him, heading south. He would have thought nothing of it if not for the way it looked like a pair of wings with a really long tail. Hope rose in his chest and threatened to strangle him as he turned and bolted after it, picking up the hem of his robes with one hand as he flicked his fingers through the motions of a haste spell. He lost sight of it as it ducked around a cluster of buildings, and he cursed as he turned and made his way down the alley way. A quick search rendered a glimpse of it as it circled over the promenade before ducking down, and he saved his breath to run faster.

An explosion threw up chunks of brick and stone, sending him staggering as he rounded the end of the promenade to see the flashes of light that denoted at least two, plausibly three mages fighting each other. He made his way closer in time to see the signature white lightning and purple-blue energy circle through the air, leaving it largely still save for a cry of fury that resonated through his chest, sending him staggering once more. He _knew_ that feeling as it thundered through him, and scrambled up the rubble breathlessly even as he tracked the flying serpent that almost cautiously flit down from the flag pole it had coiled around.

 _He's here, he's alive, I've found him._ The words practically sang through him as he crested the ridge, pulling himself up and stumbling towards the source of the waves of wrath that pounded against and through him like waves during a storm.

* * *

The scream of rage that echoed back at Damiondred left him shaking as he clenched his fists and shook where he stood. It was his fault. He'd thought that with Sarevok gone, Imoen would be safe. Realizing that Khalid was dead had hurt, though he had been determined to stifle that feeling until he could go somewhere private, but this... It was like losing Gorion all over again. No, it was worse. Sarevok had only killed his father, Irenicus liked to experiment with people. On people. With things.

_Find Irenicus. Find where the wizards took Imoen. Kill them all._

"Damio-"

" _LEADER!_ " Xzar's voice cut through Jaheira's by virtue of how the necromancer had shrieked and, tripping on some of the rubble, tumbled to his knees and reached out to snag the edge of the bhaalspawn's armor. He felt along it, climbing his way up the torso to pat the archer down, hissing with every wound he found. "Alive, sixty-five percent intact-"

"Xzar."

That one word - his very own name! - stilled him, and he looked at his feet as he stepped back, hands falling to his sides. "... We..We tried to find you. Followed every lead and clue we could until our sources were as barren as a salted field. We-"

"Stop." Green eyes flit up to briefly meet black ones before dropping back to his shoes. "Where are you staying."

"We have a house on the docks." The words were whispered out as the livid archer stifled his emotions, the gale that had battered Xzar from the inside settling slowly.

"Take us there."

"Mister! My boss says he can help you find the girl!"

"Jaheira?" Damiondred didn't even glance back at the druid as she nodded and moved towards the little boy.

"We will find you on the docks. I will keep Minsc with me. Now then, little boy..."

Xzar reached up to collect the hovering familiar, placing him firmly into the bhaalspawn's hands before gently tugging him along.

* * *

"You, Xzar, are the only person I can ask this of. And I don't want you to tell anyone about it. Do you understand."

Xzar nodded hurriedly as he poured a second cup of tea for himself and settled down on the arm of the couch. Damiondred was sprawled across the middle of it, carefully sipping his tea. He looked unhealthily pale, now that the grime had all been washed up. While he had gotten clean, the necromancer had hurriedly stuffed his flesh golem and two ghouls into the basement, festooning them with herbal poultices that would prevent them from smelling and then locking the door behind him as he retreated to the main floor.

"I'm going to start by saying that I have no idea how you survived ten years of torture. Your faith... It's always been unbreakable, hasn't it. Unshakable. I was there three months and I'd already started to think about ways of killing myself if I couldn't escape."

"It comes in stages, for some. Physical torture, mental torture. They try to break the body to break the spirit, On the receiving end, there is defiance, then escape, then despair. Sometimes all together, layered." He blandly stirred his tea, frowning.

"He wanted something from me. He damn well invited me to track him down, holding Imoen hostage. I need to know what he did to me, Xzar. I can't... I can't ask Jaheira. He kept doing things to me that made my head feel thick. For a few weeks, I stopped being able to pause and take stock of a situation, before it came back to me."

"You speak of the greyscale, where the world stilled and you could see?"

Damiondred nodded, sipping his tea and grimacing. "... First time I'd seen the Echo was on seeing Yoshimo. I don't trust him. For someone that was being held captive the same as we were, he certainly was a lot cleaner. Well groomed, too."

"Envious?"

The archer snorted, shaking his head as he glanced at Xzar. "It's not my fault that after three months I've got a patchy goatee and shitty mustache. I should take care of that, though. Can I borrow your straight edge?"

"Of course. What are we doing about the rest of the incoming guests, considering the mess in the basement? Treehugger would not particularly care for such company, though the Bald Giant and his Boo will likely care only marginally."

"They can stay at one of the inns. I'm sure Jaheira's been here before, and I don't plan to sleep anywhere near Yoshimo."

Xzar nodded slowly, setting his tea aside as he frowned. "If I am to see what has been done, it is best that we do so sooner rather than later. Shall we?"

"I suppose so."

* * *

Jaheira stepped into the house with a suspicious look around, Minsc ducking under the doorframe after her and closing the door behind Yoshimo once the other human had made his way into the main floor of the house. She was surprised at the somewhat spartan furnishings, looking skeptically at the couch against one wall and the chair in the corner adjacent to the door that presumably led to a basement. Sniffing the air caught an ever so faint hint of decay under the sour notes of embalming fluid and smokey tones of incense. Rapid footsteps came down the stairs, revealing their owner to be the necromancer as he raised his hands and held his arms up.

"Gently! 'Tis old and decrepit, as any good necromancer hovel should be. Damiondred rests upstairs, recovering for the time being. He wishes you to find an inn to use as a base of operations, as this one simply _does not_ have the room for all."

"I still need to speak with him, Grave Robber." The druid fought to keep her tone level as Xzar put his hands on his hips and scowled.

"Is it grave robbing if a fox comes across the corpse of a deer? Now's not the time for that, though."

"Damion!" Jaheira perked up somewhat as the tall, lean bhaalspawn made his way carefully down the stairs, holding onto the banister and lacing up his breeches. His shirt hung loosely on his frame, as if he had just thrown it on quickly to cover himself. "We spoke with the boy's master. Twenty thousand gold will get us to where Imoen is, although he would not say who his sources were nor where she is. No amount of haggling or threatening would convince him otherwise."

"Twenty thousand gold. Thank you, Jaheira. I've a task in mind for each of you, but I'll tell you what they are tomorrow morning. For the rest of today, find an inn we can use as a base and take some time to take care of yourselves." He leaned against the wall, feeling along his face and looking irritated as he found a patch of stubble that hadn't quite been shaved close enough for his liking. Jaheira and Minsc, both of you are mourning, technically. I want to give both of you as much time as I can spare to deal with your grief before I commit myself to the second revenge-based task of my life that involves hunting down someone I know very little about. Once we start, we won't have time to show what the enemy would consider an exploitable weakness."

"The Copper Coronet in the slums, is where I would recommend. Khalid and... Khalid and I would stay there whenever we were in town on business and looked to lay low."

"Good. Minsc, I need you to stay with Jaheira. Keep each other safe."

"And me?" Yoshimo smiled encouragingly, straightening how he stood as he pointed to himself with his thumb.

"You're not involved in this. You helped us escape, and we owe each other nothing." The bhaalspawn moved to sit on the arm of the couch, rubbing the back of his neck and rolling a shoulder idly.

The dark skinned human deflated somewhat. "Well, no, but I cannot just sit around while a young girl like Imoen is tortured. It would be wrong. Besides, I have some contacts who might be able to help."

"Fine. Meet at the Copper Coronet tomorrow morning then, and we'll see what we have for options."

"Yoshimo is willing."

"Good. Go then, and we'll talk tomorrow."

"What about you, Damion you were tortured. I should-" Jaheira paused as the bhaalspawn raised a hand to cut her off, shaking his head.

"I'll stay here for the night. Xzar has this place fairly well protected, and when all's said and done I'm actually not that badly hurt. I need to talk to him about what happened during and after the attack, after all, and I'm fairly tired. I'll probably sleep until he wakes me up to meet up with you guys."

* * *

"Xan, Kivan and Branwen went to Evereska to see if they could find anything on the style of clothes our assailants wore. Ajantis and Garrick went back to Baldur's Gate to speak with Scar and see if they could figure anything out. Skie went with them. Eldoth was supposed to go with them but with things how they were between the two of them, who knows where he went. Safana went to look into some contacts in Luskan. Xzar followed his gut and came to Athkatla two months ago, and spent the time since wandering the streets and sifting through information to try and find out anything he could."

They were at a table in the Copper Coronet, all five of them, each with a mug in front of them as they mulled over what they knew.

"The Cowled Wizards took Irenicus and Imoen. I need to secure a license that costs five thousand gold before I can cast magic without being imprisoned, although I'm tempted to just stand in the square and cast as much as I can so they take me the way they took Imoen."

"That does not guarantee they will take you to the same place as they took her, and also nobody would be able to go with you." Xzar sipped his drink, sitting in his chair backwards as he draped over the back of it. "Twenty five thousand pieces of gold. This one can think of few businesses that are lucrative enough to pay so well on such short notice."

"Which means dirty work, likely illegal." The bhaalspawn frowned, idly rolling his empty mug in his hands. "Jaheira-"

"I know. It is the same as before, with Sarevok. You pointed us to the good, wholesome people while you rubbed elbows with the scum and villainy of the Sword Coast." Her tone was dry, and she set her mug down with a quiet click. "You did this to protect Imoen from bad people, and now you would do so because you know neither myself nor Minsc would agree with working with evil people, on evil things."

"That's why you're my favourite aunt, Jaheira. You see to the heart of things quickly. I'm going to do a lot of really bad things, and I don't want that to drag you down too. You've got your reputation as a Harper to consider." He lifted his empty mug in salute as she shook her head.

"What makes you think I am some sort of saint? We used to get into heaps of trouble with your father."

"Half of it was probably his fault, too." Damiondred smiled slightly, tapping his mug against the table twice. "Still, if we work at this from two angles then I can send you info like I did last time, split the twenty thousand to two chunks of ten thousand each group, and you -know- I wouldn't do anything too terrible. Maybe a petty theft here and there, but-"

"Is anyone willing to hear my plea? Anyone? You all know me—I've helped some of you! Is this the thanks I get? I've helped lots of your kind!"

"-That would make me strangle people as if I was my brother. She's all yours, Jaheira." The bhaalspawn raised his mug, slipping away from the table with Xzar in tow as the yellow and blue clad human approached the table. Yoshimo met them at the bar, and had just gotten into some of the potential jobs his contacts had unburied for him when a woman approached them. Xzar was the first to notice, blinking and leaning slightly to get a better look at her.

"I need... I would speak with you... I need help... I need help getting..."

The necromancer elbowed Damiondred in the side, nodding as the bhaalspawn turned with a grunt.

"Oh, don't mind Hexxat. She's... We've thought abotu kicking her out, but it'd be like kicking a poor dog. She's harmless." The barkeep fidgeted, before being waved into silence.

"My name is... Hexxat. Not Clara. I need to get to... Dragomir's Tomb."

"Lucky for you, we're in the market-" He blinked as she lurched forward and grasped at his arm over the bar, dully continuing to mutter.

"Treasure. There's a... great treasure there. In Dragomir's Tomb. Graveyard... enter from the graveyard..."

Damiondred and Xzar shared a glance, before the taller of the two nodded. "Alright. Meet us there an hour after sundown?"

She nodded, let go of his arm and shuffled back to her corner.

* * *

"-And this is the government section of the city. This one doesn't have a helm of infravision for you, but-"

"Is that an angry mob?" Yoshimo squinted at the batch of torches and distant shouting.

"... This one believes so, judging by the torches, and we are something of an expert."

"That's not just an angry mob." Damiondread turned and strode along the courtyard. Even without the boots he sorely missed he had a long stride that could cover a lot of ground when he had a mind to, leaving Yoshimo to catch up as Xzar unhesitatingly broke into a jog beside the bhaalspawn.

"I've done nothing wrong!"

"... Oh dear..." Xzar preemptively leaned over, casting on the fly and infusing a protective spell into Damiondred's armor as he broke into a run at the familiar voice crying out in frustration and anger. While he wasn't as broad shouldered as Sarevok had been, he waded through the crowd with the same ease as someone wading through a field of wheat. People simply parted before him, and he reached out to snatch the torch-bearing arm of the man closest to the unlit pyre. Wrenching the torch from his grasp, he held it towards the crowd.

"What has this woman done, then? Speak up."

"It's a drow! They're all evil!"

"Nothing, then? No proof of murders, no kidnapped and eaten babies who's mourning mothers are here?" He raised the torch higher, before casting it aside and turning to climb partly onto the unlit pyre and slice through the ropes with the dagger Xzar offered out as he put himself between the bhaalspawn and the crowd. Wide eyes boggled at the impromptu rescue, even as the crowd began to scream and flee as the 'monster' was set free.

"No, you fool! This monster will kill us all!"

He was the first to die, perhaps ironically. Damiondred stepped down off the pyre before turning and drawing his brothers sword from its sheath against his back, bringing it down onto and into the shoulder of the fanatical guard, driving him to his knees before the bhaalspawn's boot met his face and pushed him off of the blade. He ignored the first arrow that glanced off of the pulsating teal glow that rose to ward the attack off, planting the sword through the wheezing guard's chest and into the ground behind him before collecting the bow and a handful of arrows to return fire with.

Yoshimo hadn't had a chance to see him with a bow, and faltered with his own shots as he noticed arrows were finding eyes and throats and had downed both of the other fanatical guards before he had so much as stuck one in the arm and thigh.

"Xzar, they're all yours. Yoshimo, keep watch. Viconia, we have to stop meeting like this. People are going to _talk_."

"It is good to see you too, Abbil."

* * *

"It's not much, but it's the gear we've got for the time being. Take my chain shirt, I've got an armor spell prepared."

The (now) party of four lingered in the graveyard as Viconia prepared herself for the impending crypt-delve. Damion had taken to whittling a rough circle out of a piece of wood he had found while she slipped the armor over her head, carving a a secondary circle into the center of it before offering it out. She took it without complaint, studying it before shaking her head.

"To recap, Abbil, your sister was kidnapped by the mage that tortured both of you for three months, and now you have taken to grave robbery to gather the gold you are needing for passage to where she waits?"

"Technically, if they still needed it they'd be walking around with them considering the amount of necromantic energy Xzar can feel in the area, wouldn't they. I like to think of it as if we're doing the city a service. If the dead rise without such dangerous things as weapons, then they're only half as dangerous. Besides, it's not robbing if I need it more. Which I do." He stepped back, launching into spellcasting as the drow tisked and shook her head.

"And this Dragomir's Tomb, is to have a great treasure?"

"We're also fairly sure that she's being controlled by something, Xzar's got three gold on vampires. Yoshimo thinks it's a ghost. I thought it best to pack extra stakes just in case." The archer adjusted his clothes as the shimmering field of abjuration that covered him like a suit of armor faded from view. "When it comes to the undead, Xzar's an expert after all. And I don't quite know what works against ghosts other than magic. But now you're here, so that's fortunate. Between the two of you I'm confident that none of us are going to die."

"And what do you have that is strong enough magic? The sword of your brother?" She quirked a brow, before glancing at the three humans. Yoshimo was prepping a torch, and smiled back at her as the bhaalspawn answered her.

"Yes. I've also traded daggers with Xzar, though that one doesn't have quite as strong of an enchantment as the sword does. I'm still learning how to use it but it seems pretty self explanatory. I don't like how slow it is, though. Otherwise we've got a handful of wands with one charge each and a number of scrolls."

"You were right, Abbil. That is not much."

"But it _is_ what we've got. Are you ready?"

"If that is your will."


	3. Chapter 3

Everything was a whole lot easier with Viconia. Most of the undead that approached them ran when presented the holy symbol, and that let them progress with relative ease. Shadow wolves and the ghosts of thieves were herded into corners where Damiondread would stand at a distance and practice with his brothers sword, slowly getting into the swing of things. He could see why Sarevok had liked the sword so much.

One awkward climb into one sarcophagus and out another later, and he was sorely missing the shortsword he had used in in the past though. The large weapon clanged against the stone, sending shards of rock flying as the armored ghost lunged with a longsword and scraped it off of his ribs, prevented from dipping deeper only because of the shimmer of black and red that cushioned the blow and largely turned it aside. It wasn't the first one, either, and he was beginning to regret proverbially volunteering to be the front line fighter. A barrage of magic missiles drove the undead back long enough for Viconia to step in and press a hand against the bhaalspawn's back, sending a wave of healing magic through him and sealing his most recent wounds with a prayer to Shar.

Finally, their foe went down, leaving Viconia to prod the remains of the armor with the tip of the staff of curing that they had found. Sifting through the small pile, she nudged the iron rod out to the side before stooping to pick it up and eye it critically. The bhaalspawn leaned over slightly to peer at it, frowning.

"That looks like it would fit in that spot by the door we came in through. Welp, time to head back and see if Not-Clara locked us in here or not."

Surprisingly, she hadn't, and as the party slotted the iron rod into its spot by the door she even pointed to how the way out had closed and locked before waiting a moment and removing the rod, re-opening the way out. It brought a wave of relief from the bhaalspawn as he slotted the rod back into place once more and they resumed their exploration. All seemed to be going well until they stepped into a room to see a man in red trimmed, black plate with a somewhat ratty purple cloak.

"What is this I see before me? Are you real, man, or or does my mind play tricks upon me?"

Xzar hissed, tugging hard on the bhaalspawn's sleeve. "Vampire! Only your sword and our magic will strike it!"

"Ah. Yes. I'm real." Damiondred nodded slightly to Xzar, before clearing his throat. "I'm looking for a sleeper that I'm getting paid really well to awaken. Seen anyone like that around?"

Glowing red eyes narrowed, before settling on the thief standing a few feet behind the bhaalspawn and growling as he drew a sword. "Hexxat! How many more fools will you sacrifice before you realize you will never escape this place?"

"Never is a long time, Dragomir."

* * *

He should have seen it coming, really. Xzar had given them all a general run down on the basic abilities of the undead that they expected to encounter but he had gotten sloppy. In preparing to swing at the vampire he made the mistake of looking directly at it and briefly meeting its gaze. Suddenly, everything fell into place, and he realized that this fine, upstanding gentleman was _really_ a nice guy, and that the people he had come in with were in the wrong, traipsing around the tomb and killing the undead that guarded it. Dragomir _just couldn't_ be a bad guy, could he? Just look at how he tried to non-lethally disarm Xzar! It certainly wasn't _his_ fault that the necromancer was stuffing his dagger between the vampires teeth, trying to keep them at bay.

"Xzar! Xzar, no, it's okay. Stop trying to hurt him, everything will be okay."

"Abbil! This is a vampire! It is trying to eat us!" Viconia looked over from where she was trying to peel Dragomir off of the pinned necromancer, only to squint suspiciously. "... Damiondred, Abbil, put the sword down."

"I can't let you hurt him, Viconia. I'm sorry."

"Vith'ir, he is charmed!"

"Then **_DO_** something about it!" Xzar spat the words out while Not-Clara looked dimly at how her arrows were ineffectually falling out of the vampire that had sunk his teeth into the arm of the necromancer's robes and come up with a mouthful of fabric, leather, and one of the daggers he had strapped to his forearm. Yoshimo tried to lever the flat of his sword between them and hauled, gaining the former zhent an inch of space before the kara-turan was knocked back and into one of the walls with an almost careless sweep of one of Dragomir's arms. "He lusted after you before, maybe he won't strike you!"

"He's right, you know. I'd hate to have to hurt you, but you're helping them try to hurt my friend." The bhaalspawn eased closer, tip of the sword raising as he quirked a brow. "Please move. I can still save him, there's still time."

The drow pursed her lips before sighing and stepping aside. Damiondred positively beamed as he stepped forward, intent on swatting Yoshimo as he returned to the fray only to come up short as two black skinned hands snapped up to catch him by the shirt and hauled downwards, twisting him mid-stride and catching him off balance. Dark lips met pale ones, and the bhaalspawn stiffened in surprise before the tip of the sword of chaos thunked dully against the ground. Their lips parted, and Viconia licked hers before nipping at the corner of his mouth and shifting onto the tips of her toes to murmur into his ear.

"But... But he's my frie-"

She shook him, growling before nipping at his rapidly reddening earlobe. He swallowed dryly, eyes settling on the trio struggling against the side of a sarcophagus, and hefted the sword. Xzar's eyes widened fractionally as he saw the bhaalspawn incoming.

There wasn't a lot of finesse when it came to attacking people from behind, anyone could do that. What separated the rogues from the petty thieves was the ability to turn a strike from behind into a thread-the-needle backstab, able to do exponentially more damage by targeting the weak points and striking often upwards at an angle. This, unfortunately, required a fair bit of delicacy and the ability to use their manual dexterity to weave a shorter blade through a kidney and then up under the ribs, catching a lung or other potentially vital organ in the process. Much harder to do with a longsword, let alone an oar of a sword like Sarevok's two-hander, even discounting the potential of accidentally catching anyone in close combat with the greatsword, but damned if the bhaalspawn didn't try.

He hit the vampire along the side, under the ribs in an upwards, angled strike that lifted it from its feet briefly and sent it staggering a few feet to the side while Xzar slumped to the ground, pressing a hand to where he had been bitten to try and staunch the bleeding. Dragomir hissed at Damiondred, who shrugged apologetically and shifted uncomfortably where he stood.

"Sorry, it's just... It's not like it actually could kill you, right? You just turn to smoke, and she said-"

"Abbil! You keep me waiting, and every moment that passes is another that I do not make good on my words!"

The bhaalspawn turned red in the face once more, and raised the sword.

* * *

"It drained some of your life-essence."

"A restoration should do it. This is not our first encounter their kind." Xzar rubbed at the pink lines that marked where new flesh had sealed the hole in his jugular. He leaned to he side and spat out a mouthful of blood while blinking up at the cleric. "You do good work, as always, and this one is ever impressed with your skillful manipulation."

"I do not think Abbil agrees with me." Viconia's tone was dry as she glanced over to where the bhaalspawn was quietly and thumping his forehead against the wall. Sarevok's sword was leaned against the wall beside him. "I had always suspected, but that it would be strong enough to counter the effects of a charm..."

"Men are often very stupid when it comes to women, and that one moreso than most. Unless Baeloth taught him in three hours more than most men learn in three decades? We doubt that he would have stood a chance. Help us up?" Offering out a hand, the necromancer grunted as he was helped to his feet, wobbling slightly before he found his balance. "Though, it must be advised that, as you now know, leniency be taken. Doubtless he would have preferred to tell you in his own time."

"He can hear you, you know."

"Yes yes." Xzar flapped his hands at where Damiondred had sullenly addressed them from before looking back at the very amused cleric of Shar. "As his priest, we can _personally_ vouch for the the sanctity of his character. The divine heritage surely must mean it would be a nigh heavenly experi-"

"XZAR!"

The necromancer held his hands up, grinning at the flustered Bhaalspawn as Yoshimo returned from where he had slipped away to scout ahead.

"Yoshimo has returned! ... What did I miss?"

"Nothing! So help me Xzar, I will flay you myself." Damiondred shouldered the sword before turning to the bounty hunter, utterly ignoring the muttered 'do _not_ threaten us with a good time' as he surveyed the returned Kara-Turan. "What did you find?"

"Nothing, except for a patch of magic that made me feel sick to go near two lengths of your sword long."

"We... There. The treasure is there." Not-Clara turned from where she was staring blankly at the floor and started to head the way Yoshimo had come from, prompting the rest to look at each other and then start scrambling to catch up. The bhaalspawn sighed as he moved, muttering under his breath.

"Oh boy, treasure. I sure hope it's not a metaphorical one like friendship."

* * *

"And that's how we met Hexxat. The real Hexxat. Clara went back home, compulsion lifted. Hexxat, this is Jaheira, Minsc, and...?"

"Nalia de'Arnise. Jaheira and Minsc helped rescue my home from an invasion of trolls." She smiled, and the bhaalspawn nodded his head politely and looked towards the elf.

"Oh! I'm... I'm Aerie."

"Minsc's new witch! He will protect her as they travel the world, right Boo?" The hamster squeaked agreement as Aerie blushed faintly, giggling.

"We saved her from the promenade, where a gnome illusionist had gotten out of hand." Jaheira sipped her tea, eyeing Xzar as the necromancer dozed idly in his chair. "What is wrong with the Grave Robber?"

"Life drained by the vampire we fought. Viconia is going to take care of it in the morning and then we're going to spend the day looking for jobs so that once she's rested we can start tackling them via itemized list. Which, I should say, it's getting pretty late. Everyone should get some rest or tend to whatever they need to before hitting the sack." Damiondred waved his hand idly, before pushing his chair back from the table and rising to his feet. A gentle nudge had Xzar muttering in tongues as he was roused, only to blink owlishly and start pushing himself to his feet to follow. Hexxat and Viconia also pushed themselves away from the table, muttering polite goodbyes and following the two humans as they left the building.

"Hexxat, keep an eye out for Yoshimo. None of us trust him, and I'll give you the full story once we get back to Xzar's. Which... Does remind me, we should consider getting a new base of operations."

"You trust me, but not a human you freed me with?"

"You literally handed me the only way that you can come back, whereas I met him under suspicious circumstances. While I -am- somewhat worried that he might tell Jaheira and the others about what you are I'm more worried about him trying to ship me back to Irenicus before I'm ready. Besides, we could use someone who doesn't need to sleep to keep watch, and in case you hadn't noticed my right-hand man is a necromancer. If nothing else, you can share kills and eat together, keeping an eye out for trouble and staying safer."

"There is also the fact that the Dark Lady will no longer be the only girl in the group." Xzar yawned tiredly as they walked, rolling his shoulder and blinking blearily about in the light of the street lamps.

"Well, that too, but I like to think that I judge merit based on what people can or can't do rather than what their dangly bits look like." The bhaalspawn peered around, humming to himself as Hexxat laughed and the drow snickered. "Anyone else hear the sound of people dying? Yes? Thought so. Let's go get you two a late night snack."


	4. Chapter 4

It was, perhaps ironically, a vampire fighting two shadow thieves. Winning, of course, considering the thieves weren't anywhere near as well equipped as they should have been to deal with such a threat. Damiondred looked at Hexxat curiously, drawing a baffled look and shrug to indicate that it wasn't anyone she knew. She did, however, remove the cloak and stuff it into her pack before nodding towards the remaining thief who was still putting up a struggle. Releasing Crim into the air to hover above, the bhaalspawn hefted the sword, nodded, and moved as quietly as he could over the stones before swinging the sword of chaos horizontally through the air. He caught the vampire assailant in the side and swept it (Her? Her.) a foot or so to the side before it dug in and halted its momentum. Damiondred clamped his eyes closed and opened his senses, relying on his familiar to direct him.

It worked, and he practically danced back to avoid swipe after swipe of her claws before Hexxat was able to ghost up behind her and stake her from behind. She froze, before the chultan vampire gave her a gentle shove to push her over onto her face, chuckling at the sound of the impact.

"That will only immobilize the vampire until it is removed. Leader?" Xzar glanced over at the bhaalspawn, who nodded and brought the sword across to sweep her head from her shoulders, watching curiously as it dissolved into mist and floated away. The necromancer pursed his lips as he watched what direction it dispersed in. " Graveyard district? Yes. Yes? Yes."

"Makes sense. You there." Damiondred leveled the greatsword he wielded at the remaining thief who was trying to strip his dead companion of anything he had of value. He looked up, flinching slightly. "Yes, you. Why was she attacking you?"

"She... She was tryin' to recruit us, People were disappearing, so we're t'travel in pairs, but... We can't fight these things."

"Go back to your guildmaster and tell them what happened. Maybe, if you're lucky, they'll either arm you better or send you out of town. Otherwise, tell them that I'm in the market, as it were." Grounding the point of the sword, the bhaalspawn leaned idly on it as the shadow thief nodded and scurried off, using his free hand to scratch idly at his chin and neck. "... Went better than I thought that would, but if nothing else this only drives home the fact that we need better equipment. Come on, let's get some rest."

* * *

It turned out that Hexxat did, in fact, need time to rest and recover just like a member of the living would. For her though it was just a matter of turning into a gaseous mist and drifting into the bag of holding she had given to the archer and settling into her coffin for a certain amount of time. She was understandably a night owl, and as such it was agreed upon that she could sleep the day away in the coffin and emerge once the sun was down. When the morning came and Xzar was healed, a runner from the Shadow Thieves knocked politely on the door, mentioning that Renal Bloodscalp wanted to hire them.

The Bhaalspawn left Hexxat with Viconia, trusting the former to protect the latter while she continued to rest with the understanding that neither archer nor necromancer would be gone for too long, and that the vampire could go back to resting the remainder of the day once they were back. She agreed, and the two of them set out to find the guildhall. It was surprisingly close, and after a little bit of diplomacy they had their first job, setting out for the secondary guild hall. Mae'var was a hassle to deal with, but after a tedious theft where a priest of Lathander and two dawnguards were baited away from a chest by a mud-smeared 'mad prophet' that capered into the hall gibbering and shrieking, they crossed paths with someone particularly surprising.

"Greetings. I am Edwin Odesseiron. You simians may refer-"

"Well now, pleasant surprise seeing you here." The archer perked up as he stepped the rest of the way through the door, Xzar following behind and working some of the larger clumps of mud from his hair with a damp cloth.

"-to me... as... You again." The Thavian's expression settled into a mix of surprise and a sneer. "Still alive, I see. (Surprisingly resilient. I thought they might have died by now.)"

"Mae'var sent us up to ask you what our next task was, but I can't see you being here, working for someone like that if you didn't have an iron-clad reason to. He's got too many powerful enemies. Want to compare notes?"

"(The simian has gotten sharper.) Prove your competence and it will be considered. There is a cowled wizard that, in a fit of envy, has sent an agent to tail me and eventually attempt to capture me. Deal with them, and I will see what notes there are to compare." Edwin lifted his chin, eyes narrowing as the bhaalspawn laughed easily. "What. What is so funny?"

"You want me to kill a cowled wizard? Hells, Edwin, I'll do that one for free."

* * *

Damiondred felt like he really understood his brother now, or at least more than he had before. Wielding unbridled power was a heady thing, but he still disagreed with Sarevok's methods. The larger bhaalspawn had been particularly hamfisted, and for all his scheming had let his temper get the better of him. The archer resolved not to let that happen to him, no matter how frustrating the situation. Still, it was disappointingly easy to kill unarmored opponents with the proverbial oar he was swinging around, and he almost mournfully looked down at the human that gurgled on the floor as Xzar attempted to stem the bleeding long enough to get a few answers.

"Clumsy! Sloppy! Inefficient!"

"I sort of... Thought he might have better defenses."

"Well, yes, but you crept behind him before he could activate them and almost cleaved him in twain from behind, stern to stem!" The necromancer pursed his lips, exasperated as he finished tying the tourniquet off around where the greatsword was still embedded in the torso. "Speak man, while you have breath left to speak with! Where is Imoen and Irenicus!"

"You will... Die... For going against... The cowleHURRK!"

"Leader!" Xzar waspishly snapped at the apologetic-looking bhaalspawn after Damiondred had jostled the sword a little bit.

"What! It's motivation!"

"Who is the expert? Who? Speak!"

The bhaalspawn sighed and deflated slightly. "You're the expert."

"Naturally. I- Oh bother. He's dead"

"Umm... Oops? Eh, let's just take his head back to Edwin and be done with it. He wasn't going to tell us anything anyways."

* * *

"I happen to have a key to Mae'var's strongbox that holds what I know are incriminating documents. It was a short term arrangement only, but he has proven unstable. (Any fool who thinks to lead in this manner only invites his own disaster.)"

"Great. I'll head downstairs and get them, Xzar you circle around and distract the guard at the top of the stairs down that we saw on that level, and Edwin? Go out the side and meet us outside the front door. Xzar and I will be out shortly, then we'll all head out and hand this in." Damiondred turned, only to pause as he noticed that the conjurer wasn't moving. "... Edwin?"

"You presume that I will simply fall into line, following you like a duckling? That I will obey you, simply because I worked for you in the past? You betrayed me, and Dynaheir lives! My superiors were _most displeased_ with me after my report. (As if they thought they could keep me in the dark for so long...!)"

The bhaalspawn turned to properly face the Thavian, canting his head to the side. "I used you to kill my enemies on the false pretense of a woman's death - a woman who is, in fact, dead and in a ditch somewhere along the sword coast I might add - and you're upset? Upset that I lied to you, when you were nothing but honest about your intentions to hunt down and kill someone because... Why, Edwin? You never would tell me."

"It was never your business-"

"If it wasn't my business you shouldn't have tried to hire me. But you thought I was easy to manipulate, because I was basically fresh out from under the skirts of my father, reeling from his death that first time and didn't seem like I was more than a bumbling fool. And I was, largely, but you missed a lot of growth and change between then and when we met in the Cloakwood. You follow through to the letter of your word, because that's who you are, but trust me when I say that the recognition for saving a city that you included in your last report to your superiors is going to be nothing when compared to what I'm about to do next."

Damiondred smiled slightly, almost carelessly as he spread his arms and raised his hands. "Nothing's stopping me from just taking the whole chest and hauling it out to the Bloodscalp, Edwin. I don't exactly _need_ the key. But without people to work for you - because, really, who's going to now that you've been associated with _Mae'var the traitor_ \- you automatically fail at whatever you were trying to do. On top of that, you need _out_ , because you threw your lot in with Mae'var in the hopes that you could puppet him for whatever purposes you're actually in the city for. If you come with me, I'm guaranteed to give you that out, and you'll be there in person to see it. No tricks, no traps, no deception, and after that you tell me what you're in the city for and we'll take care of it together while you work for me."

Edwin studied the bhaalspawn for a long moment, stroking his chin as his eyes narrowed. "... The witch is truly dead?"

"She died about three months ago on the road. I can show you the rashemi berserker she was traveling with if you need proof."

"... I will meet you downstairs. (This simian had better keep his word this time.)"

* * *

The archer blinked at Renal, one very satisfied Hexxat standing a short distance behind him while a bloodless head lay on the floor before them, an unintentional laugh bubbling out of him before he faltered. "You're... Nine hells, you're serious, aren't you. About running that branch of the guild."

"I am."

"I'll have to decline. I don't plan to stay here any longer than I have to, and I can't let myself get bogged down with responsibilities like that. Tempting as it is."

"Ah, then I suppose a monetary reward it is then. Hmm, take this sword, too. We'll keep in touch if we get anything else for you."

"Thank you, Renal. If I see any more shadow thieves being attacked in the streets, be certain that I'll do what I can to help them."

"Of course. I look forward to dealing with you again."

* * *

The group (which now consisted of Damindred, Edwin, Hexxat, Viconia, and Xzar) sat in the room they had rented in the Five Flagon's Inn. The necromancer had settled on the floor with the shortsword across his lap, eyes rolled back into his head while his lips twitched and quirked rapidly. Edwin kept his arms folded and stared at the bhaalspawn, until the archer threw up his hands.

"Alright, alright. I'll go first then. My sister and I were kidnapped by a mage named Irenicus. He tortured us, killed some of our traveling companions, and after the shadow thieves attacked we got free until, on exiting his compound, Imoen and Irenicus were taken by the cowled wizards to who knows where. I'm raising a boat-load of gold to pay the shadow thieves to find her, and then the plan is to kill everyone between point 'ey and point bee, get her back, and then make him regret ever drawing breath."

"Do you know why you were taken?"

"Some sort of experimentation, from what Xzar and I can tell. He cut a lot of spots repeatedly to measure how fast I healed, how quickly my bones would mend, how much blood I could lose before passing out... I never quite appreciated what Xzar and Viconia could do until then." The bhaalspawn sipped at the tea he had been handed almost blandly, not really tasting it as he tried not to focus too closely on the memories that rose unbidden through his mind. "It was only about three months, but I'm going to skin him and wear the result like a cloak."

"He also shows increased aggression and a loosening of already not-particularly-strict morals. Consdiering the lack of torture marks upon Jaheira and Minsc, we are led to believe it might also be due to his heritage." Xzar blinked rapidly as he focused on the room, green eyes flitting between the two other arcane casters in the room only to settle on Hexxat. "This would be best served in either our Leader's hands, or your own Misty lady. While he has his brother's sword, this will serve you well should we come across more vampires in the streets."

"Thank you, Necromancer." She shifted from where she had leaned against the wall to saunter over and accept the blade, weighing it in her hands. "His heritage... I thought I could smell something unusual from his blood."

"It is well suited to the talents you display. Strike swiftly, strike silently, and the blade will do the rest." Xzar patted the air idly, before stretching and glancing towards the bowless archer.

"I'm a bhaalspawn. Gives me something of an urge to kill rampantly, though I try and curb it only to people that deserve it." Damiondred admitted as he set his drink aside. "I hope I don't have to worry about that making you think I look tasty."

"Hmm, no, but now that you mention it I _am_ curious as to what the blood of a half-god would taste like..."

"Metallic. Like iron. Just like everyone elses." The bhaalspawn shook his head, chuckling. "I've broken my nose and busted a lip enough to know that much, at least."

* * *

"So, after paying for the casting licenses, between Jaheira's group and ours we're at... Roughly eight thousand gold all told. Just about half-way there." Damiondred leaned back on the couch, raking his hands back through his hair and grimacing as he watched Xzar pack and try to figure out how to smuggle two ghouls and a flesh golem out of his house and into the graveyard. "You know, why not turn them invisible and walk them there?"

"The ghouls are rambunctious, and would try to scatter."

"Maybe one at a time?"

"May do for the golem, but the ghouls... Oh! Viconia." Xzar blinked rapidly, head tilting to the side and peering out through the curtain his hair formed. "The Dark Lady is powerful enough that lesser undead heed her call should she make the attempt. For myself, I would have to restart the process of enslaving them with control spells. Truly tedious, and more suited to the long term. 'Tis like some spellery where should you cast the same spell once a day at the same location, it will seep into the ground and remain unless removed."

"Sort of like Bhaal's blood at the Boareskyr bridge?"

"Sssort of? Such was _not_ a repeated process however." The necromancer frowned, faltering for a moment as he looked back down into the box. "Bhaal's blood poisoned the water, and some flowed downstream, too. Hence the curse 'go drink from the west side of the bridge'."

"I've changed. I don't know if I like who I've become, Xzar. I feel like... Like I'm becoming Sarevok. I hate a lot of people now, and I don't... I don't know if I want that. Is it because I'm willing to do anything to get Imoen back? Is it just because I'm losing my humanity to the bhaalspawn heritage in me? I'm feeding people to you and Hexxat, and I don't... Really care as much as I should about what they've done before I do this."

Oh. Oh oh _oh_. Xzar glanced up, peering at the archer as he stared blankly up at the ceiling. Lips pursed, the necromancer pushed himself up and eased over, garnering a tired look from the bhaalspawn. Carefully, quietly, he hummed and leaned forward. "You see yourself becoming _evil_ , indiscriminately and uncaringly so?"

"Yes. I'm not... I'm not Bhaal. I'm not Sarevok, and I'm not the half-grown kid I used to be when I left Candlekeep. Somewhere along the way I thought about becoming a god, and I mean who wouldn't if they had the chance? But... I think I've lost sight of what kind of god I wanted to be. I hunted down my brother because he killed the man I call father. I'm hunting down Irenicus because he dared to hurt and take my sister."

"Hmm. It has been... Less than a year, since we met. In eight months, you have changed more than most every likely do in their entire lifetime, yes? And now, remembering dreams and promises past, you wonder if... Feeding people to a vampire and a necromancer is going too far, morally?"

"I almost cut someone in half yesterday, Xzar, and felt bad only because I meant to let him live longer so that you could torture where Imoen was out of him. I used the allure given to me by my bloodline to help sway Edwin, and it's only because he's arrogant and particularly unwise that it worked. I took away his ability to really choose. I'm doing everything every storybook villain does."

"Da~mi~on~... Need I remind you that you just spent three months tortured by someone keen to cut to the core of your corporeal form?"

"You were tortured for ten years, and you turned out fine." The bhaalspawn sullenly dropped his gaze, jaw clenching.

"I _broke_. You played on my faith, tricked me into a temple and had my mind miraculously restored with a greater restoration. You took away the sharp edges and orbiting distractions." Xzar flicked his fingers, waving his hand through the air as if to brush aside the matter. "Recall my instability before you named me your priest. Even after, I am not the man I once was. Too much was cracked and lost, but you've _replaced_ some of the very important pieces that fell out and were scattered along the road between Baldur's Gate and the Moonsea."

"Still, I should have-"

" _Blah blah blah, I'm a bhaalspawn and I should be indestructible, infallible and a god by now_. _"_ Xzar blew a raspberry, earning an exasperated look that he returned and improved upon by tucking his hands on his hips and leaning in. "You. Are. Mortal. Not even two handspan of months ago you were wild-eyed, shaken and dirt-smudged as you came across a pair of terrible little half-men, each half-men for different reasons, and thought to yourself 'hmm, seems like a good idea to travel with these two complete strangers once one of them pulls their arms out of the torso of a wolf'. The only reasons people survive torture is because their tormentor either becomes bored of them or because someone failed to keep them alive. Or they escape. Nobody is ever the _same_ after that, regardless of the release they discover. Of the two of us, only you escaped. You _freed_ me. You made me one of _your_ people, and gave me something to have even the faintest bit of faith in that isn't a dead god."

Damiondred sat in silence for a long moment, frowning faintly as he rested his elbows on his knees and looked at his hands. With a quiet rustle of cloth, the necromancer knelt down and reached out, fingers tracing over the faint scars until they reached his wrists.

"You once told me that you wanted to protect your people. A righteous wrath awaits any who would do so, this I can see. I do not need an open third eye to know this thing. I think your confusion comes from not really knowing who your people are. Are they only the ones you know, personally, that these hands have touched? Are they anyone willing to do whatever it takes to right a wrong done to them personally? Or are they the faceless innocents that are harmed for reasons beyond their understanding?" Green eyes searched the archers face, before Xzar sighed and pushed himself up. "You are _young_. You are _young_ and you think that you are _old,_ because you have grown and lived so much more than most people I've known."

"... I know I'm not old, Xzar. I'm not you." Damiondred glanced up, cracking a slight smile as the necromancer scoffed and folded his arms.

"Naturally not. Now stop making me _worry_. I've enough grey hairs as is."

* * *

The bhaalspawn stared at the ceiling. stretched out on one of the beds in the room he shared with Xzar. Hesitantly, he looked around to take in what he could of the dark room. Vague shapes of furniture, outlined only by the faint torchlight that penetrated the curtains across the window. Six feet away, the bed next to his was a solid rectangle with the lumpy outline of what could only have been the necromancer, face down with his head under a pillow atop it and most of the blankets kicked away and draped over the floor.

"... Are you there?"

The words emerged hesitantly into the room, almost swallowed by the darkness. The archer waited a long moment before sighing and starting to roll onto his side, giving up for the moment until he came face to face with his mirrored image. It was only further proof that the image was projected to him from inside his own head, considering he could see his heritage clearly despite the darkness.

_What a surprise. You called for me without it being prompted by any particular physical threat looming in the immediate future._

"Just... Making sure, you know? I thought I lost you for about a month there with Irenicus. We're in this together, so it would be stupid of me not to make sure you're... I don't know. Alright, I guess? Can you be hurt by that sort of thing?"

_Hmm. Sort of. But I'm stronger, for what he did to you. How much you want to kill feeds me, albeit less than the act of actually killing. This in turn makes us both stronger. Surely you must have noticed by now, how physically you've gotten stronger than your brother was. It's by about the same margin as the distance between the vampire's strength and your own._

"I did... Sort of. I don't think I was strong enough to bend the bars of a cage quite as easily as I did before. Not that it was easy, but..." He grimaced, and his mirrored image laughed soundlessly as it folded its arms on the edge of the bed and propped its chin up on them.

_No. Not easy. It should be easier, but ... We're free now. And you have great things planned._

"Yeah., I suppose I do."

The archer settled onto his back once more, eyes closing as he sighed and drifted off to sleep, unaware of the green eyes that watched him quietly from underneath a pillow.

* * *

_**You know what you want. It is you, after all, which has brought us to the dream. Nothing is real... yet.** _

Damiondred jerked, sucking in a breath and shuddering as he woke abruptly. "... Xzar, do you have anything to suppress dreams?"

"Mrrrmn...? Hmm." The necromancer tiredly slipped to the side, off his bed, thumping into the ground with a grunt before he started to push himself up to feel around blindly for his pack. Eventually, a small satchel of something fragrant bounced off of the archer as he swung his legs over the bed and reached for the curtains, intent on pulling once open.

"Thank's. I... Hey, do you know if bhaalspawn can bring others into their dreams? Share them with them? Form a... I don't know, mental connection?"

"Whuzzat?"

"Right. Coffee first, panicked questions second."

"Covfefe..."


	5. Chapter 5

The archer had put off going to the promenade, but really it was the one place that was liable to have what they needed. Even Edwin agreed, though he was laying low in the Five Flagon Inn for the time being. Specifically, the adventurer's mart was what he wanted. Xzar was, as had come to be the norm, the distraction while Hexxat walked Damiondred through the rest of the store and surveyed what there was to see. They found quite a few items that they really wanted and, after leaving the store to meet up with Viconia to see what she wanted, looked at each other and nodded. Vampire and bhaalspawn lifted their oily purple-black potions, hooked arms, and drank. Smiling at each other, wearing a layer of properly purchased actor's makeup and wigs courtesy of the Sharran cleric, they stepped in and (very importantly) the chultan removed her freshly dyed cloak, hanging it on a peg by the door where the necromancer could keep an eye on it. It wasn't as if the sun would be much of an issue inside the building, after all.

Between the potions of master thievery, playing off of each other and the bag of holding that Hexxat's coffin was in, they made out fairly well. His ability to charm was more subtle than hers, so he more often played the role of the secondary distraction so that she could blithely stuff things into the sack. Needless to say, all three of them left the store at different times and met up in the graveyard district, just inside of Dragomir's tomb.

"Our main problem now will be trying to disguise some of the more... Obvious and noteworthy things. So let's see what we got. I snagged this ring, this dagger, a scroll case, gem bag, handful of scrolls and this belt. Hexxat?"

The vampire smirked at him before it grew into a full grin, displaying perfectly white teeth. "Oh, you poor boy. So timid, with your skills you could have gotten so much more!"

"I wasn't carrying your bag, and I'm pretty sure it would have looked weird if I had walked out with a set of armor stuffed under my shirt. What did you get?" He stuck his tongue out playfully before blanching as she started to pull things out of the bag.

"A rod of resurrection, a mace, this long bow, a sword, a shield, a robe, and a set of red chain armor. Oh, and these bracers, which I thought you would enjoy."

Damiondred let out a low, appreciative whistle as Hexxat laid everything out, catching the bag of holding as she idly lobbed it at him. "Oh hey, I recognize that sword and shield Those were in the Hall of Wonders in Baldur's Gate. Alright, Viconia, you get the chain, shield, mace aaand the belt. Xzar, the robe is yours naturally. Hexxat, you get the ring, scroll case and gem bag for when we do this again, and I'll take the longsword, dagger, bow, and bracers. Wait, no. You should take the bracers for now. They'll protect you better, until we get some good armor for you."

Xzar squealed quietly in excitement, starting to strip down out of his robes so that he could pull the magical one over the tunic and hose he wore underneath, adjusting it slightly as it shifted and conformed to his size. He smoothed his hands down the front of it, marveling at the fabric. "Vecna - _VECNA!_ \- wore these~!"

"Yes, yes, only the best for my Priest." The archer strung the longbow and hefted it, testing the draw and sighing contently while Hexxat frowned at them and strapped the bracers around her wrists.

"Why do you call him your priest?"

"Because I'm a bhaalspawn. Because faith in people has it's own kind of power. Because better he acts as my priest than someone elses. I did sort of steal his loyalty after all, after he was sent to kill me."

The vampire laughed easily, shaking her head as she attached both scroll case and gem bag to her belt. Inspecting the ring for a moment, she finally slid it onto her finger and looked over at where Damiondred was cursing at his lack of arrows. "Do you recruit everyone who is sent to kill you?"

"No, just the one or two I think might turn out to be useful. I've got a few rules I go by, after all, but they're fairly basic. No killing people who you don't have proof deserve it. Try not to kill party members without a good reason. I'm working on theft ones at the moment, but I'm not running a guild so I trust your discretion. If you get caught stealing, I'm going to pretend I don't know you until I can break you out of wherever they send you. Yada yada yada." He waved a hand vaguely, before frowning at the bow. "How are we going to disguise these? Xzar can just throw on a thin wrap-style robe and he'll be fine, but this sword and shield are pretty obvious."

"Abbil, a tabard would cover the chain well, and anything else can be covered with weaponblack."

"Good idea, Viconia. Any ideas for the shield?" They all shared a series of glances, before the archer puffed his cheeks out and studied the very obvious profile of the shield. "... Alright. I think I might have an idea."

* * *

They had repurposed the tomb to serve as a sort of base of operations for them for the time being, leaving the two ghouls and flesh golem to guard it. Hammocks were easy to smuggle in, and the most difficult thing to do down there was to cook meals. Still, the door locked from the inside and they happened to have really the only key. It was dry, structurally sound, and easy to defend. Hexxat expanded the bhaalspawn's knowledge by teaching him how to set down several types of traps, sighing as he finished the last of them.

"This place was my prison for so long, but now it is a safe place to stay that is almost impossible to breach. I had hoped to be away from this place and enjoying the sun. I used to love sunlight, but this is my world now."

"It... Sounds pretty lonely, honestly. Help me push this sarcophagus?" The archer gestured to the closest one, and between the two of them had an easy enough time sliding it across the stoen floor and against the wall, turned so that it could act as cover if need be. "I prefer the night myself, honestly. Ever since Baldur's Gate I feel like it gives me a better chance of getting away if we get attacked again. I also like how the cover of darkness means that I don't have to sneak through sewers, and can stick to back alleys and rooftops."

"Many who sneak often prefer the dark, this is true, but a human lacks the ability to pierce the darkness with their sight."

"I was wondering about that. How do you see the world? Is it a type of infravision, like Viconia, or is it something else?" Damiondred dusted his hands off and reached up to run a finger along his familiar's head and wing where it was coiled about his neck like a scarf.

"Something else." She smiled, stepping up to tuck a hand against his chest and tilt her head to the side, eyes closing. "I can hear your heart. I can smell your warmth. I can see the blood as it pumps through your body, the current of your life. I could perhaps not see the latter in magical darkness, but my senses cannot be fooled by illusions otherwise. If someone is invisible, I will still hear their life beat through their body and taste their passing in the air."

"Wonderful. If you can tell all that you can probably also tell how uncomfortable this is making me."

The vampire laughed easily, nodding and stepping away. "It is fun to see, though the beat of your heart seems more in line with anger than lust."

"Because it is." The bhaalspawn smiled slightly, apologetically as he brushed at his shirt where she had removed her hand. "It's got everything to do with Irenicus and what I remember of what he was doing to me, and nothing to do with you. You're pretty, I'll give you that, but..."

"Ahh yes. The drow." Red eyes set in a warm tanned face crinkled slightly at the corners. "She is beautiful."

"And planes of existence out of my reach. Any advice? Things have gotten... Well, awkward between us, ever since we freed you."

"Ever since Dragomir charmed you, you mean. I could hear it, faintly, from where I was down the hall." She shifted to lean a hip against the sarcophagus, folding her arms and looking thoughtful. "It is not as if you lack natural charm, or unnatural charm, but that is not what you want. The best advice I can give you is to talk to her. Speak honestly. You might win her heart that way."

"I'd settle for not-awkward silences, honestly."

* * *

"I'm not the best at making things, but... Well, this should help. You slide it over this part here, and the wood covers the front like this, then these straps here buckle together and it stays on." Damiondred sheepishly offered out the bits of wood and leather that had been a collaborative effort between himself and Xzar.

"Thank you, Abbil." Accepting the contraption, Viconia started to strap it into place and hefted the shield a few times to make sure it wasn't too unwieldy. The archer stood there awkwardly for a moment, before clearing his throat.

"Look, Viconia, I... I want to be honest. I'm not... I don't hold you to anything. That wasn't how I... I didn't... Wow I am... Really bad at this." He chuckled slightly, helplessly as he looked down and raked a hand back through his hair. The drow watched him, amused, one eyebrow raised. "I was charmed. Aaand I was stupid. It was my own fool fault that I got charmed in the first place. You've been a stalwart shield arm, powerful cleric and one of my fondest memories of our travels together was you taking Tazok's knees out. What I'm trying to say is I don't..."

"When you look at me, you look past my appearance and see what it is that I can do. You use this knowledge as a puzzle piece, Abbil, and fit it into your schemes to the best of your ability. Twice now, when I have needed help the most you have appeared before me. Once, as a naive, almost helpless man-child and once more as an incarnation of wrath. Yet, for all of your learned, practiced courage you stutter and pause like a fool." Viconia shook her head, hefting the shield once more. "If I told you, right now, that I would leave forever because your oafish fawning disgusted me, what would you do?"

"Try once to change your mind. Slip a pouch of gold into your pocket to make sure you had what you needed to get where you needed to go, and wish you all the luck in the world if I couldn't convince you to stay." Damiondred almost mournfully lifted his gaze, frowning and letting his hand drop at his side.

"I believe you." The cleric of Shar straightened up, quirking a brow as she looked at him again. "There are seven words that will make anyone fall in love with someone that you should be saying, Abbil. Do you know what they are?"

The bhaalspawn blinked rapidly, hands clasping in front of him so that he could twiddle his thumbs. He looked down at his feed, then up at the ceiling before, finally, his gaze met hers. An almost shy smile curled the corners of his mouth upwards.

"Would you like to go for drinks?"

Viconia threw back her head and laughed.

* * *

They went to see a play at the Five Flagons Inn instead. They _intended_ to go alone, but Xzar had a scroll of invisibility and Hexxat could turn into mist. They saw Edwin sitting on one of the chairs further back but dismissed it as coincidence as they arrived after him. They sat down with their food and drinks, and after only a handspan of lines were already exchanging a glance as the archer started to carefully make the gesture for 'very bad'. Viconia snorted, nodding in agreement.

"We are sorry. With our lead actor missing, we... We must cancel the show tonight. And if you know anyone strong of arm and brave of heart tell them... Tell them to come and find Raelis Shai." The woman that had come out onto stage dipped into a low bow among the jeers and boos before heading backstage with the air of one defeated.

"Edwin! Come on. Let's go and extort a free viewing of whatever in the nine hells this was supposed to be by fixing their problem." The archer pushed himself up, waving at the Thavian as the rest of the crowd exited the theater. He didn't have to hear what the conjurer was muttering to himself before waving irritably and slumping somewhat. Damiondred glanced over to where Viconia was shaking her head and adjusting her tabard. "Ready to go and bust more kneecaps?"

"It should prove more amusing than the play itself, Abbil."

He nodded, before glancing over his shoulder. "Come along, you two. Nice try."

" _Leeeaderrr...!_ How did you know?"

"I'm a bhaalspawn, Xzar. The day I can't feel two points of death as they orbit me is the day I end up getting killed by one."

* * *

"This brings back memories." The archer grinned slightly as Crim hovered nearby, the inside of his mouth glowing with a red tinged magelight. The placement let him close his mouth and effectively stop the light, but for the time being he drifted along and kept the beam somewhat in front of the party. "I remember Baldur's Gate's sewers. I _miss_ Baldur's Gate's sewers, if I'm being honest. They were better kept then these ones. Didn't have kobolds or backwards-handed catmen, either."

"The Rakshasa worked out well, though. The Misty Lady will not hunger for some time, and the cloak that now adorns your shoulders helps to hinder our foes."

"Even if it looks beat to shit." The archer grinned at where he knew Xzar to roughly be, adjusting the ragged cloak about his shoulders. "Besides, considering I'm the only one of you that can't be brought back by the rod, being able to turn into a regenerating troll is pretty useful. Or an ooze, though I've little idea how I might even begin to move in that shape. I'll have to practice. Rat form seems useful too."

"And Abbil now has arrows to shoot with his fancy bow."

"-And I have arrows now, yes, a very good point Viconia. I knew something would turn up. It usually does, before I have to spend money on the- There's something strange about this wall."

The party slowed to a halt as the familiar hovered near the wall, shining its mouth-mounted magelight on the section of wall that the archer was now running his hands along. Hexxat stepped up next to him, nodding slowly. "You have a good eye for this. This patch is slightly cleaner than the rest of the wall."

"Try pressing on it?"

The vampire nodded as the bhaalspawn nocked an arrow, stepping over and pressing on the section of wall and watching as a small pannel slid in. The portion immediately to her left silently swung open, and she flashed a grin at the others. "Make me invisible and I will scout to disarm traps as we go?"

"Good idea."

* * *

"This is the lay out. These stairs go up into balconies along the wall in the dock district. This is an unfinished staircase. There are mephits in the library here, and two salamanders - one fire, one ice - guarding the bedroom. This man here was unresponsive, but in here - I think it is a crafting room? - there was a man working." Hexxat gestured to the sketch she had scratched out with the tip of her dagger through the handful of dirt that the archer had scattered onto the ground. "We have between us three mages, if we take him out any one of you could probably imitate him."

"It -would- be a much better place than the crypt. Not that I don't like it, but there's all sorts of tools here, a proper fireplace, couches... Secret entrance and balcony escape access. Could you see yourself staying here, Edwin?" Damiondred looked to the Thavian, who regarded him with quiet contemplation for a long moment.

"... You are considering taking this place for yourself for the time being in an attempt to conform to my standards of comfort, offering creature comforts won by strength of arm and magic as a bribe to ensure my complacency. (As if I would not notice...!)"

"Naturally. The only person I've seen match you spell for spell was Baeloth. I want you content, and just think of all the books in his library there must be. Of course, you could say no and continue paying for a room. I'm not going to force you, but I thought you might appreciate the more fitting accommodations. You're an Odesseiron, after all. Your father is the tharchion of Surthay. The least I can do is make sure you're comfortable during your downtime."

The conjurer eyed the bhaalspawn for several long seconds, only to scoff. "(Well, it is good to know the simian can _sometimes_ pay attention...!) Very well. I accept your bribe."

"Fantastic." Damiondred beamed briefly before looking back at the map. "Any traps along the floor or walls, Hexxat?"

"None that I did not take care of."

"Thank's. Crafting magical items is a finicky process. We want to take him out before the other minions he has, but he's very likely in the most protected part of the building. Xzar, with the robes you're the faster caster, so you're on dispel and counter duty. Edwin? I want you to put as many flame arrows into him as possible. Use Xzar's invisibility breaking as your cue to go. Hexxat? You and I will sneak in. Viconia, when Crim gives you a signal, get his attention. I'm banking on your magic resistance. At that moment, the two of us will strike. We need to take him down in twelve seconds, otherwise he's going to get a spell off or call for his minions to defend him, and I'd really like us all to have to put in as little effort as possible." He peered at all of them (at least, the ones he could see) before smiling and turning to Hexxat. "Alright. Take to the ceiling and I'll see you in there."

* * *

It went rather as planned, which left the archer pleasantly surprised. Hexxat was crouched on the ceiling a few feet above the distracted, muttering wizard while Damiondred carefully and quietly snuck around behind him. A brief confirmation with Crim that they were in position had the flying snake hissing and nodding at Viconia, who charged in and planted herself in the doorway with a bellow, shield raised and braced as she snarled just behind it. The wizard _(Mekrath, his mirrored image said simply. One day, I will teach you how to discern this on your own.)_ turned, raised his hands to activate his sequencer. It went off, but of the protections that had risen around him only some of them stuck as Xzar popped into view while his spell completed.

Damiondred recognized some of them, before they disappeared. Stoneskin was the first to fall. Protection from Normal Weapons remained, as did a red coloured fire shield. He almost laughed as the vampire dropped down beside him to strike in tandem, both of them ignoring the flames as a barrage of magic missiles left Edwin's hands to slam into the elf and finish him off. As the body slumped to the ground, the party relaxed and sheathed their weapons.

"Well done. Xzar, pick over the body. Viconia, Edwin, head for the library and clear out any lingering mephits. Hexxat and I will go for the salamanders and try to find the troupe's missing lea-"

"My he-" Damiondred's world went grey for a moment, long enough for him to consider his options before colour, movement and sound returned to it. As the new voice continued, he was already reaching out to settle a hand on Viconia's shoulder, shaking his head as he waved at the others to stand down. "-ad clears, filled with stars and liquid fire... and I see before me the new holders of my shackles? The wizard released me, I see, only to pass my reins on to another. So I'm to be your prize, am I? A mockingbird to sing your petty praises?"

"I think I like this one, Xzar. He reminds me of how you get sometimes. Wizard's dead. You must be Haer'Dalis, though. Raelis Shai sent us to free you and bring back a gemstone of some kind. I can see why she was so desperate to get you back, even ignoring how bad your understudy was." The archer smiled easily, stepping forward and offering out his hand. Striped features contemplated it for a moment before he received an answering grin and they clasped hands.

"Honour-bound and honour-branded then, is it? Very well, Raven, you have set me free and for that I thank you. Come hither and fly like swift wings o'er the rising thermals of the new day, and let us find our lost gemstone and return to the side of Miss Raelis. If you would share your tailwind, that is?"

"Of course. I don't see why not."

* * *

"So you return and bring our dark Haer'Dalis, his fetters shattered by your hands. Here is the gold I promised... Have you the gem?"

"Aye, here it is. Safely delivered." The archer produced the gem, offering it out and stepping back as Raelis gently removed it from his grasp.

"Ah! Mekrath's prize! It shall be our salvation yet. Here be seven hundred gold. Haer'Dalis, tell them what we are about while I prepare for the summoning of the conduit." She turned, gathering an assortment of items off of the table while the others started to head to the stage proper, whispering excitedly among themselves. The striped tiefling looked sheepishly apologetic as he wove his fingers together and canted his head to the side.

"Yes, Miss Raelis. Ah... my ravens, there be a tale between us that is long overdue. Forgive me if I led you to believe that yon gem was just a worthless bauble for the stage."

"Three of us are mages, Haer'Dalis, and one of us is a conjurer. Not only does it fairly radiate an aura of magic, but I trust Edwin's instincts on these matters and assumed it was something unusual and powerful." Damiondred stretched idly as the conjurer lifted his chin.

"It is a planar jewel. (At least -someone- appreciates my talents and knowledge!) It is often used to bridge between planes, forming tunnels to other realms. Perhaps even the abyss, as your heritage might suggest."

The tiefling looked baffled for a moment, only to laugh easily. "Wonderful! Few of you primes could have guessed it's nature. Mekrath did, and I fell into his keeping shortly after."

"What is Raelis summoning?" The archer's eyes followed Raelis as she hurried past, and Haer'Dalis chuckled as he strode forward and clapped the bhaalspawn on the shoulder.

"A conduit, fair raven. One that will take my troupe elsewhere. You are welcome to watch." The hand left Damiondred's shoulder as the tiefling sauntered along, turning to the right once he passed most of the stage props.

"What are we doing, Abbil?" Viconia thumped the lower edge of her shield into the floorboards, frowning. "You have the look of one with a bad idea."

"Would you believe me if I told you that I wanted to watch him and learn how to talk to people?"

"Yes, but that is not all there is to this. You are drawn to him like a moth to a flame." Xzar stepped forward, frowning at where the blade had disappeared. "Is he drawing parallels, perhaps? Likening the charismatic, flexible, strong dual wielding tiefling to another charismatic, flexible, strong dual wielding individual with otherworldly heritage?"

"Maybe. There's something about him though. Ever since I saw him I've had a feeling, like something that was slightly off clicked into place. It's... Hard to describe. I think... Picture it like a rug, made of a whole bunch of threads. Sometimes, I feel like I can pull some of these threads and line them up with mine, and others I feel like it just happens on its own. Xzar, for example, I think I had to do a lot of pulling to keep you with me. When we went by the Harper hall, the first time on our way to your house, I couldn't help but feel like the air was... Weird. Like I'd been there before, but like I was watching you die. It's like... Echoes." The archer rakes a hand back through his hair, frowning as the voices ahead of them rose in a unified chant. "Sometimes I feel like I know how something's going to go. For them, this is going to go badly. We could help them or we could... Not. But I feel like his thread has run next to mine already. Even though I don't think it has. I'm not making much sense, am I."

"(The monkey babbles in circles. Feh!) No, no you are not. What are we to do?" The conjurer folded his arms, scowling as the bhaalspawn turned towards him.

"Probably something very stupid. There's two paths in front of me. One leads to the door and out of the theater, and the other feels like it tugs on my arm." The archer shrugged slightly before stepping out past the props in the back, watching as the chanting finished. A ripple formed in the archway they were focused on, before out stepped a man in splint armor.


	6. Chapter 6

"Listen, you little maggot! I want to know how you got your collar off, right now... or you'll find there are far worse things than being a slave!"

"N-no! No! I don't care what you say! I w-won't be a slave any more!"

Damiondred nodded slightly as he stepped through. Quietly, feet shuffled around him, and as he flicked his fingers Viconia quietly started to pray.

"Well, if that's the way you -" The splint-armored figure shook the rag-clad gnome a few times before one of the hooded figures in blue reached out to take him by the shoulder.

"T'rael! Hold! Others have come through the portal!"

"What? Others? Ah... the primes. How foolish of you to have followed your actor friends here." He dropped the gnome, who crawled a few feet away an curled into a ball, hands over his head. "Von'ith, close the portal, please. Heh, do you have any idea at all where you are, primes?"

Damiondred puffed out his cheeks, tapping the shaft of one arrow against his shoulder as he looked thoughtful. "Not really... just came through for a bit of sight-seeing, really."

"You idiot prime. This place is one of the finest prisons in the planes." The splint-armored hunter sneered, incredulous, and the archer couldn't blame him. He could almost see Edwin rolling his eyes, despite the fact that the conjurer was invisible and probably carefully halfway across the room by now. "There is no way out of here... except at the whim of the cambion. What fools you must be to come here of your own volition. No matter. I expect you'll bring a grand price from the cambion as new thralls. Hunters, take th-!"

Blessed silence, thought the archer as he turned sharply to the side to start soundlessly launching arrows into the closest of the snake men. Viconia, having become visible with the completion of her spell, set herself defensively while the three visible melee combatants charged towards the bhaalspawn and ran into her instead. Damiondred expected Hexxat to appear behind the closest of the casters until he felt a slight shift in the air beside him. A splatter of blood preceded the appearance of both a halfling and the vampire, and he struggled in her grasp as she kept him in a headlock and finished tearing out his throat.

Damiondred was very glad at that moment that she was on his side.

Still, that left Edwin peppering the one snake man with fire arrows even as regular arrows buried themselves between scales and eventually in its throat as it turned, finally out of the radius of the silence spell and raised its hands to begin casting. Hexxat shifted around to support Viconia, flanking the three that were harrying the drow and splitting their attention while the necromancer completed the second counterspell to disrupt what was being cast behind them. The second snake man hissed at the necromancer until it was forced to throw its arms up to try and protect its face as the conjurer and archer focused their fire on him.

The rest fell easily enough, soon after that, and the group set about looting the corpses. It took a moment, but the gnome eventually approached them.

"I... I thank you, my lord, for your timely rescue. I am afraid I did not give much thought as to what I would do after I removed my collar. It was foolish of me, I suppose, but I would rather be dead than remain enslaved to the cambion forever. There has to be a way out of here somewhere!"

"What do you mean by your collar?" Damiondred conversationally flopped one of the tails towards the gnome, grinning as he squeaked and skittered back a little bit, eyes wide.

"The warden keeps a large number of slaves here... prisoners that have been turned into thralls by a magical collar that they wear that controls them. They are next to impossible to remove. Mine had a small flaw in it, and I was able to squirm out of it not long ago... only to find that there was almost nowhere for me to go, here, and danger down every corridor."

Humming quietly to himself, the bhaalspawn pushed himself to his feet and tilted his head, deciding to try and get whatever information he could out of the clearly skittish gnome. "What was this cambion you mentioned?"

"The cambion? The cambion, here, is the warden of this prison. I know not his true name, but he is a cruel and evil master who delights in the suffering of his thralls. He is a powerful demon as well. You may have defeated his bounty hunters, but if I were you I would find a way out and avoid him entirely."

"Are you sure there isn't a way out of here?" Picking his nails, he frowned down at them as he realized he was getting blisters again. Three months had certainly done a number on the callouses he had built up in the past. He was also pointedly ignoring Edwin's livid glare.

"The only sure way out of this planar prison is through the dark magic of the cambion himself. But I doubt he would transport anyone out of here willingly. There be no physical exit that I know of. The portals lead only to other rooms within the prison, and there are no doors or windows... if there even is an outside to speak of, here. No... the only way one can leave is through the use of magic. Powerful magic that only a few might have, to attract a conduit to this dim and forsaken place."

"Good to know. Do you know where I might find Haer'Dalis and his troupe? Otherwise I have someone with the most powerful magic I've ever seen standing just across the room from me." Edwin's glare wavered as his eyes narrowed at Damiondred's blithe compliment.

"You are friends of the actors?" The gnome fidgeted in place, before mournfully looking back up at the tall bhaalspawn. "Ahh... then you may as well begin mourning them, my lord. They are in the Warden's cells, awaiting transport to Duke Rowan's tower, I am told. The warden is directly north of here, through the hallway... but I would advise against going down that path. You will see on the floor markings that the tanar'ri have left with their magic... portals that transport you to the other rooms in this prison. The ones in the hallway to the north you cannot avoid, and they bring you to the barracks where the warden keeps his personal soldiers and thralls. 'Tis a most dangerous path to take. There is another way to reach the warden... a safer way, perhaps, that may serve your purpose and perhaps mine as well. Might I tell you of it?"

The archer pondered for a moment only to nod as Xzar came up behind him, head canted to the side. "Very well, I'm listening."

"The warden is powerful by himself, true, but he is also protected by the many thralls under his control through the collars they wear. The passage east leads to the chambers of the Master of Thralls... a lesser tanar'ri who holds a device that I know allows him to control the collars. Destroy that device and the thralls are freed. The warden is vulnerable... and I will be able to contact my newly freed friends. Some of them are mages who will teleport us away. As well, the portals on the floors to the east may be avoided... they lead only to other cells, I understand, and are full of naught but violent and dangerous creatures. I-I would not-"

"Kill the Master of Thralls, kill the Warden, and find Haer'Dalis and his troupe seems to be the order of things then. Got it, don't worry your little gnome head about it. On to more important things. " Damiondred waved his hand idly, cutting the gnome off as he turned to Xzar. "Are those what I think they are?"

The necromancer beamed. "Yesss~, yes they aaare~. Only the best for my Leader!"

The bhaalspawn took a page out of Xzar's book, and squealed quietly with glee.

The boots fit just as comfortably as they had the last time he had worn them, though he wasn't sure how they had gotten in the hands of bounty hunters. On further reflection, he thought perhaps they might have been party to Irenicus' successful kidnapping of the bhaalspawn, sister and some of their party, but tried to put it out of his mind. He didn't know how he had known, but he liked to think perhaps that it was the boots that had called to him through the opportunity. He had no proof, of course, but he was starting to understand how faith worked a little better because of it. It was a belief that was felt somewhere in the chest that was only loosely connected to logic, or such was the conclusion he had come to.

He only felt minorly sorry about killing the two thralls that impeded their progress east. There wasn't anything he could do about their current states, and damned if he was going to dick around with their collars as they actively attempted to kill him. He did stop briefly to collect the collars themselves, however, as he did have the beginnings of a plan for them. The next thralls the group crossed paths with gave him the chance to experiment with the concept of momentum and swing, as he swapped the longbow for his brothers sword and took down one of the thrall mages with ease. He even hoisted them up, still impaled on the sword, and let his momentum play out. It was a happy coincidence that he did so, as a large wyvern swooped down from its perch to lash out with its tail, stinger passing clear through the poor human girl and finishing her off.

By then, he was a fair distance ahead of the rest of the party, but adrenaline sung through his veins and everything seemed like it would be oh so easy to kill.

He danced in a circle, leading the beast on a merry little chase as he surveyed the room, grinning as he shifted out of the path of the stinger and bringing the two handed sword down in an overhead chop that just about severed it in one blow. The beast shrieked, recoiling in time to backwing into the path of a freshly peeled and freshly lobbed skull that exploded with an echoing shriek, necromantic energy rippling outwards and tearing through its wings. It landed heavily, and he charged up to draw the two handed sword across its torso, sending scales and a spray of blood flying in an outward ark before Hexxat was able to get the shadow's blade through its hide and into a lung. Viconia slammed the mace across its jaw for good measure, sending the body teetering back and onto the ground with a thump.

He was just about to turn and charge into the next room when Xzar threw an eyeball at him. The splat of it across his side was what got his attention and slowed his stride halfway across the room, drawing his gaze inquisitively to the flailing necromancer.

"Stop! Cease! Desist! Halt! Do not pass go!"

"Oh come on, Xzar, it was one wyvern-"

"Do you want me to help you with your goal? Or do want me to let you turn into your brother." The former Zhent tucked the backs of his wrists against his hips, fingers curled as he struck a pose only to gesture to the direction the archer was heading in. "If the former, then hold I say. If the latter, then by ALL means. As you were."

Damiondred blinked at the necromancer, then at the dead wyvern, and then over at where the rest of his group had assembled. Viconia in particular looked displeased.

"... Nnnope, you're right. You're absolutely right. Thank you. I got, uhh... Carried away there for a moment." Smiling sheepishly, he grounded the point of the sword of chaos and shifted slightly where he stood. "I just, you know... These boots saved my life more times than I can count. I've got a good enough reaction time that, with them, I should be okay, so..."

"So you became drunk on the possible power." Hexxat looked thoughtful, folding her arms. "I have seen it before, with new fledgling spawn. They become excited at the prospect of what they can suddenly do. Do you know how they die?"

Tapping the tip of the sword against the ground, Damiondred sheepishly looked down. "By leaping without looking?"

"Probably by losing track of time in their bloodlust and frenzy and being burned by the sun." The drow frowned at Hexxat as the vampire nodded, only to shake her head and look back at the archer. "What have I always told you?"

"Caution helps you live longer."

"And?" Viconia prompted.

"Leave no witnesses?"

"That is Edwin's advice, Abbil." She smiled nonetheless, and the bhaalspawn smiled sheepishly at her.

They approached the next room with considerably more caution than he had the last one. Which was good, considering the Master of Thralls had two air elementals guarding the passage as he paced restlessly behind them. Periodically, he would tap the butt end of an unusual pronged staff against the ground, and mutter to himself.

"Edwin? Can you get rid of them?"

"(Edwin do this, Edwin do that, Edwin is not the one that got us stuck in an extra-planar prison-!) No, no I cannot. But I can keep them busy. Kill the demon, and with luck they will disappear. I will be locked in mental combat with my summon once I begin, so do not allow me to be disturbed." The conjurer sneered, across the room, before starting to raise his hands and cast. He took a smudge of ash from a pouch and dragged it down to bisect his lower lip, only to then underline each of his eyes with another smudge of ash.

Damiondred nodded as he looked past (through?) the elementals and eased an arrow out of the quiver he wore beside his brothers sword.

"Let's go with our standard tactics, if slightly modified. Xzar will play defense and support for Edwin and keep an eye on the Master of Thralls. If you see him start to cast, counter it. The robes let you cast ridiculously fast, after all. Hexxat, try to assassinate him if you can. You're an ambush predator anyways, so that should be right up your alley. I'll harrass anything that tries to nail... Well, anyone."

"Your arrows will do naught against the windbags." Xzar chewed on a lower lip as Hexxat shook her head, and the archer hummed thoughtfully.

"Fortunately, Edwin will have them both well distracted. Worst case scenario I'll grab my swords and head in. Viconia, do you think it would be better for you to help distract the elementals or take down the big guy?"

"Elementals. I do not move fast enough to get past them, Abbil."

"Everyone knows their jobs then."

They destroyed the orb, then circled back around and took down the mostly dead cambion as it licked its wounds in the middle of a pile of fresh corpses. Of course, they were all utterly choked up by the rampant loss of the lives of those who had fought for their freedom, and promised to use any gear they had on them to the best of their ability to further their own survival. Xzar tucked in to have a nice little snack while Hexxat stripped the corpses for anything useful, both promising to bring any not-yet-dead survivors to Viconia for a patch up before they were sent to the gnome.

Edwin had settled a little off to the side to study his new weapon, the staff that the Master of Thralls had used to summon the pair of air elementals, smirking smugly to himself as he studied its pronged appearance. He was mostly left alone by the group while Viconia idly paced and kept watch, periodically glancing down the hallway that Damiondred had skittered down. He returned after a short period of time, and waved at the rest of the group.

"Come on. We've got our way back to the playhouse. Haer'Dalis is going to travel with us, too. We're all ready to go."

"Just like that?" Edwin stared at the archer, who shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah, just like that."

"(Impossible...!) An inescapable planar prison, and after under an hour we are home free again?"

"I mean, we're not back in Athkatla yet but yeah. Look at Xzar, he's already up and ready to go. Viconia and Hexxat are moving towards the troupe's pod. C'mon, Edwin, have some faith in me." The bhaalspawn grinned before turning to practically skip along and catch up as the conjurer stared after him. A moment of deliberation drew a sigh from the Thavian, before he started to follow. It wasn't long before they said their goodbyes to the troupe, stepped through the portal and then headed out from the Five Flagons Inn.

They bedded down in Mekrath's home, taking the time to get clean, tend to their wounds and pool all the equipment they had taken from the planar prison. They divided it up based on who could use what the most, and Haer'Dalis thanked the party for the melodic chain they gifted him, promising to learn how to play it properly before the week was out. Viconia almost immediately claimed the large enchanted bath for her own use, trusting the archer to set aside anything she could use for her, and had a good long soak while Edwin picked through the loot for his share and then retreated to the library. Hexxat declared she was going to take some time during the night to hunt and would be back within a few hours, waving and nodding as the archer reminded her that only people who deserved it should be on the menu.

Eventually, it was only Damiondred and Xzar left in the sitting room, packing away the excess supplies into the bag of holding that the vampire's coffin was within. The necromancer broke the silence first, withdrawing a fresh finger bone and a dagger to start carving a rune into one side.

"Your doubt seems to have passed. You feel... Clearer. Like a pond that was disturbed by a distorting rock has finally let the sediment settle at the bottom. It was barely a few days ago that you seemed on the verge of a panic attack."

"I was. I thought about it though, and between it and your advice I found some measure of... I don't know, understanding? I still have questions, though. Is wanting to become a god a cliche?" The archer sorted the last of the ammunition, before scrubbing a hand across his face. "Does it matter if it is? It's the path I'm choosing to walk. Isn't that the important thing? I have this habit, of thinking myself in circles but I lack your wisdom to see when I'm doing this until it's too late, Xzar. So I decided there wasn't much of a point thinking about it and to just sort of go with the flow of things. What's important, right now, isn't what kind of god I want to be now is it. No, what's important is getting Imoen back, and killing Irenicus."

The necromancer nodded slowly, habitually chewing off a piece of gristle he had missed earlier before giving the finger bone an experimental roll. Nodding to himself, he tucked it away and started marking runes on the next one. "Long term goals -are- important, but you are right. Shall I expect my skills to be required once we find the mage?"

"Only if you promise me a front row seat."


	7. Chapter 7

The winged serpent waited patiently for a long moment before dipping its tail in the inkwell and starting to meticulously write a brief message across the parchment. Jaheira read it, before nodding. "Yes, I am sure. Gaelan Bale was very specific. Did you have any dealings with the Shadow Thieves lately?"

The flying snake gently booped the marker for yes, only to resume writing a few, careful words.

"Then that must be why they lowered the price of their help. We are at eleven hundred right now, roughly. How much has your group gathered?"

Crim paused for a moment as he mentally relayed that information back to the Archer across the city, received an answer, and delicately jotted down a number.

"Then... We are good to go. We have enough. Nineteen thousand and change, we even have some now to put towards equipment. We-" The flying snake hissed quietly, cutting her off before dipping his tail in the inkwell and laying out a few, slightly more messy words due to the haste he took. The druid's brows furrowed as she read before she nodded. "-... Ah. We will, then. It is good to know that you are fully outfitted. Just to be careful, we will spend no more than two thousand gold pieces in the event that it is necessary for us to have emergency funds. Describe your party, and I will do the same."

Crim gestured for her to pull a fresh sheet of parchment over, and she nodded obligingly as he dipped his tail in the inkwell and then began to write. The longer he did, the deeper the scowl grew across Jaheira's face.

"Xzar the necromancer, Edwin the conjurer - who spent his time on the Sword Coast trying to kill Dynaheir! - and some new names I do not- Wait... Vampire? _Vampire?_ I do not care how 'well trained' you say it is, it is an abomination of nature-" She clamped her jaw shut as she read the rest of what the hissing serpent was writing, nostrils flaring. "Fine. -Fine-. We have Aeris, an avariel cleric-mage. She lacks her wings, but be careful how you ask why. Cernd, a druid similar to myself, though the path that he walks is a cursed one indeed. Myself, and Minsc of course. Yoshimo. We also have a bear, named Wilson. What. Do not look at me like that."

The flying snake's tongue flicked out, and he continued to stare for a moment while the tip of his tail sloppily spelled out a few words across the page.

"No, but I do not think you should be asking me about -my- sanity, mister Travels with People-Eaters. Do not think I do not know about Xzar. We thought the murders in the city were his doing, until you told us it was the leatherworker and had resolved the situation. It is only because you seem intent on avoiding harming the innocent that I have not spoken up about this in the past. You... Admittedly are doing a good job of pointing all of these evil forces in directions that only hurt other evils. What are you going to do about Edwin and Minsc?" She leaned against the table, sighing as Crim deftly sketched out the plan. "... That is it? That is your master plan? You know Minsc will be unhappy, traveling with the Thavian. They will eventually come to blows."

The flying snake thought about it for a moment, before sighing.

* * *

"Alright folks, good news." The archer blinked, shaking his head slightly as he stopped focusing on his familiar across the city. "Between the two groups, we have enough. They dropped the price down to fifteen thousand, from twenty thousand. Now, I want to go over some things. Edwin. Minsc will be joining us, and I want to make sure that you understand something. He's going to be angry, because you kept trying to kill Dynaheir. While he knows you didn't succeed, that it was Irenicus that did, he's going to likely be an idiot and say a number of things to aggravate you. It's -very- important that you don't rise to his bait."

The Thavian sneered over from where he was stretched out on a sofa with a tome in his hands. "Or else what, I am forced to stay home like an errant child that cannot help but misbehave? I-"

"Exactly, Edwin. The last thing I need, while I'm trying to get my sister back, is you blowing up half the party. Look me in the eyes and tell me that if Minsc provokes you, you won't set him on fire." Damiondred kept an even gaze locked with Edwin, who opened his mouth and then looked away, slumping and muttering under his breath. "See? You and I both know that if he crosses a line with you, he'll pay for it. That's the singular start point of any explosions that would take down half the group. I wouldn't even be able to begrudge you it, but you'd be wasting valuable fodder."

"You gave me your word-"

"-That I would help you with what you were here for. So what is it, Edwin. What are you here for."

The Thavian narrowed his eyes. "(I am to be punished because some oaf cannot follow orders to leave me alone? Feh, the monkey is stupider than I thought.) A Nether scroll. It is reported to be in the graveyard district somewhere."

"Narrower search than we usually get. Let's go then."

* * *

Edwin pursed his lips as the drow herded another group of undead into what appeared to be little more than a killbox. Hexxat was keeping watch from the ceiling, while Haer'Dalis continued his offensive spin and Damiondred hacked and slashed and took pointers and learned. Mummies, ghasts, shadows and wights all seemed far less dangerous when they were cowering against a wall, being picked off one by one, and he was content to fold his arms and watch the peons do the work for him.

"Poor poor Red Mage. All the power in the world, and only a business partner to show for it."

"(Oh look, his pet mad dog has come to play with words.) What do you want, Necromancer."

Xzar raised his hands, spreading his fingers in a gesture of non-hostility before slowly reaching to withdraw something from up his sleeve, offering it out. "Only to say that he likes you, Conjurer of Expensive Tricks. He regrets that you can't come with us, but also wants you to be free of the net that he, in his naivety, entangled you with. He was younger then. He knows things now. He also bade me to offer you something, in this trying time."

"A letter? (It is only unlikely to be an explosive rune because I know he does not have that spell.)"

"Something of the sort. A job offer, if you will, best left to your vast intellect and greater casting capacity than this one. Read it over whenever you wish to, the conclusion will not occur for some time, but speak naught of it." Bowing low as Edwin accepted the wad of parchment, he turned and practically skipped over to leave the Thavian with a partial sneer on his face as if he felt he had been insulted and wasn't quite sure how.

* * *

"You know, that was the strangest fight I've ever had with a caster. Did anyone actually -see- the lich start casting defensive magic? Did it get intercepted?" Damiondred sat a little off to the side, picking idly at the burns that covered his forearm. He'd have to get a new bowstring, and once Xzar was finished being healed by Viconia (it had taken a direct order to get the stubborn necromancer to finally agree, but his burns were worse and really, they weren't going anywhere for the moment) he would grump his way over and help cut the leather fused to his forearm free so that it could be properly healed. It hurt, but after his time with Irenicus the bhaalspawn found that it was a pain that could be pushed aside for the time being.

"I began to cast but had to restart my incantation to adjust it for evocation versus abjuration." Said necromancer glowered and bared his teeth as he hissed. " _Stop picking at it._ "

"Yes mom. Edwin?"

"No. His first spell was fireball and his second was the cone of cold. (My prize must be around here -somewhere-...!)"

"Right. Hexxat? Any luck yet getting free of that? Did you try poofing?"

"Not yet. I am tempted to just cut off my arm and leg and be done with it." The vampire's voice came dryly from above the door where she was partially frozen to the wall above the door with one hand stuck against the ceiling. She awkwardly hung, chipping away with her dagger. "I was caught between mist and solid, so I can't just, as you say, poof my way free."

"Funnily enough, I think that's the closest we've ever gotten to anyone actually dying." He nodded, before sitting on his good hand as the necromancer growled at him. "Yes mom, I'll stop picking at it. I'm more worried about you, honestly. You bear hugged me and soaked most of that. How's his back, Viconia?"

"The worst is healed, Abbil, but he should not twist and turn. It will pull the new growth of skin. For a human, he is starting to show his age. Have you thought of getting a replacement?"

"Where in the world would I find another necromancer like Xzar? Give him another decade, he'll have found a suitable road to undeath. Can't put an age on competence, after all."

"My Raven! I think I found what our Red-Breasted Robin searches for." The tiefling waved his hand, the other carefully cradling a scroll before quick-stepping closer to avoid the snatching, grabbing hands of the Thavian. "Ah-ah-ah, while I admire your audacity, I think this should fly to the fabled Darkwing first."

"It's okay, Haer'Dalis. I promised him that we'd come here for it, I'm not about to go back on my word and snatch it from his hands." Damiondred waved his hand, and the blade shrugged before almost boredly tossing the scroll to the fuming conjurer.

"Be careful with that! (Yes let us _lob_ the priceless scroll around, like the carnival we have become...!)" Edwin carefully tucked the scroll away after catching it, scowling. "Now then, this is one of the more disgusting places I have traveled in my time party to your travels. If we could leave, I believe that this makes us even for your previous deception and we can now move forward with a, as they say, clean slate."

"Yes, yes. On, this reminds me. Haer'Dalis, you dabble in the arcane a bit, right?" Damiondred offered out his arm to the hovering necromancer who, without a moment of hesitation, drew a knife and started to meticulously cut free the leather fused to the archers arm. "Ow. _Ow_ , Xzar."

"As if you believed for a moment it would be painless. That you trust this one near you with a knife still is... Miraculous."

"I just have faith." He grimaced, torn between watching and focusing on the approaching tiefling as he canted his head to the side.

"Aye, my Raven. All bards do, even those that bear bared blades. While I'm not quite the caster that our red-breasted Robin might be I carry tricks of my own."

"Good. I've got a better understa-Ouch!- understanding of what you can do, and- Bhaal's balls, there's got to be a better way to do this, Xzar. Booze? I heard booze helps." The archer grimaced, leaning away as best he could while leaving his arm stationary.

"There are a veritable cornucopia of 'better' ways to do this, Leader, but unless you want to bleed out like a stuck pig avoid alcohol. It thins the blood, turning it from a thicker viscus fluid to proverbially water and prevents clotting. Ask any that would deign to deliver a tattoo." The necromancer sounded sheepish as he muttered, head ducking as he continued to deftly wield the knife. "Almost done, almost done..."

"Right. Haer'Dalis, what I'm trying to say is that I'd like you to cover Viconia. Between your ability to weave magic into your verses to helpfully boost our collective abilities, aptitude for magic and skill with your blades, I want you to focus on blowing up people before they get to the group and then act as a flanker to-" He faltered, dark eyes closing as Xzar deftly wrenched the entire loosened swath of fused leather from his arm with a litany of muttered apologies. Viconia stepped in to begin healing, quirking a brow as the archer resumed talking with a level tone. "-To... To push people against Viconia's shield and finish them off."

"It was too deep, I was scraping bone." The former Zhent shrunk where he stood, hunching and blinking pale green eyes rapidly as if he expected to get stabbed and was rather hoping he was wrong.

" _I could tell_." The bhaalspawn grit his teeth and exhaled slowly. Opening his eyes, he gave the necromancer what he hoped was an encouraging smile before looking towards their cleric. "How long until I have full use of my arm again?"

"I would sleep on it to see how well the healing took, Abbil." Viconia shook her head, studying the arm as flesh and muscle re-knit over the grey coloured bone. "Until then, be ginger with it. Magical healing will mend you, but it must take time to set for the soreness to fade."

"Right. Let's get Hexxat free and then get out of here."

* * *

They ended up parting ways with Edwin once they left the graveyard district. He excused himself and proclaimed that his studies with the scroll would take some time. As they were planning to leave the city as soon as possible they didn't hold much hope that they would see him before he joined them at the boat. They headed to the slums to meet up with the rest of the party, and pool their funds. By the time they made it to the Docks, the archer was frowning.

"Da~Mi~On~... What vexes you? Speak with your Priest, and he will do the rest."

"You'd think fifteen thousand gold would cover a lot of things, right? Like we would be done, ready to go and shipping off after we exit the building, right?"

"Yooou have a bad feeling?" Xzar glanced around, noting how the rest of their companions had gone silent to not so subtly eavesdrop. Damiondred tilted his head and nodded slowly.

"Something like that. Jaheira? What do we know about the person we're going to see?"

"Only that they lead all of the Shadow Thieves, and that their name is Aran Linvail." The druid pursed her lips and glanced back, before looking ahead once more. "We already know he is having a problem with vampires and a rival guild. Your... Friend, might not be welcome."

"They don't have to like it, she's not with them she's with me. Besides, I think I'll need her out and about."

"Leader, these... Are not like the Zhentarim. Intimidation will not go well. Their leader is strong willed." Xzar lifted a hand to his mouth to chew on the nails, drawing a suspicious gaze from Jaheira before she realized it was, in fact, his own and still attached. "Attempts to bend him will garner much the same effect as bending a flexible pole. It's as likely to snap back and slap you cross the face."

"Yes but Xzar, I have a _plan_. When do my plans ever go wrong?" Damiondred beamed at him as he stepped through the doorway.

* * *

"... Should be in there..."

Jaheira ignored the pacing, muttering necromancer in favour of watching Haer'Dalis and Aerie sitting in the corner, talking quietly back and forth. Somewhere beside her Cernd was sitting with his back against Wilson's flank, eyes closed while he meditated. Minsc and Yoshimo were trading tales of their travels while pretending not to keep an eye out down the hallway, the former keeping careful watch over the wingless avariel while the latter kept an eye out for the archers return with a fair bit more success at keeping his glances subtle.

It was a large group, made larger by the drow that leaned back against the wall and the vampire that idly chatted with her. They laughed, and the half-elf frowned as she noted the one gesturing at the other out of the corner of her eye. She contemplated getting up and saying something, but a hand settled on her shoulder and drew her attention to the shapeshifter as he smiled slightly.

{You worry about them.} His voice was smooth and almost gentle as the druidic language hummed out of him. {About the boy, in particular. About those he travels with.}

{He surrounds himself with abominations and those that defile the natural order. A necromancer, and a vampire. The doomguard and the drow are only passingly better choices.} She grimaced, before reaching up to scrub her face. {He is the adopted son of a friend long since passed.}

{I can hear them argue.} Cernd nodded slightly down the hall. {They will not allow eleven to go. They say only six. He will want to take his four. Look at them, see how strange they are, and think on who should go with them. The rest of us should make sure they have somewhere to come back to, if what you have said is true.}

She worried her lower lip, and then sighed. {Your insight into this matter is better than mine. I barely know him, but for all that I have seen it is...}

{Odd? He surrounds himself with those that, should they be left to their own devices, would cause chaos or wreak havoc through nature. You asked me to follow him for a time, and I did. I have seen that, standing in his shadow, he steers them away from these things. There must always be evil to balance the good, chaos to balance the law, and he walks this line carefully. His victims are deserving.} The shapeshifter patted her shoulder gently before leaning back against the dozing bear once more. {They are less 'evil' than some of those who would walk the paths of the wild.}

Jaheira couldn't argue with that, knowing what she did of the druids in the Cloakwood.

* * *

The door shut behind the archer, and he took a deep breath before raking his hands back through his hair. Though it never seemed to tangle, it was singed and uneven after the fireball the lich had thrown, and he distracted himself with it for a moment as Xzar scurried up and checked him over for wounds.

"So." The necromancer muttered quietly, glancing up as he felt along Damiondred's forearm. "Was I right? What did intimidation do?"

"Kept Hexxat with us without an additional two and a half thousand gold cost. But the caveat is that we have to go vampire hunting and eliminate their competition. Oh, and they say there's only room for six on the boat. So now I have to decide who to leave behind." The bhaalspawn ground his teeth in frustration, stepping out past Xzar as he finished his inspection to face the rest of the party. "Okay. Complications. Discount is not, in fact, because we helped them but because five thousand gold worth of the job is vampire extermination. And I can't take everyone when we're done."

"How many can you take?" Jaheira pushed off from the wall, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Six, including myself." Damiondred folded his arms and set his jaw, bracing for the inevitable only to frown slightly as the druid nodded and patted the flank of the bear.

"Your party numbers five, yes? Including yourself? Take Wilson with you."

"... The bear."

"Yes, the bear."

"Nnnot you and Minsc and the people you gathered?" The archer squinted slightly, canting his head to the side as Jaheira smiled and shook her head.

"No. It would take too long to integrate you into our tactics, and you are more used to your group anyways." She stepped up and settled a hand on each of his shoulders. "You are a man grown, now. You will always be Gorion's ward and my nephew, but all birds must learn to fly on their own and seek their own thermals."

"But... What about avenging Khalid?" He sounded confused as he reached up to grasp her elbows, and blinked as she laughed humourlessly.

"You avenged your father without my help, and I am not foolish enough to be anything but willfully blind at what you would do to Irenicus when you catch him. You... Khalid would not want anyone to torture someone for his sake, and I would travel down that dark path if I caught up to him. All I can do, is hope and have faith that you will not. But that is your path through the dark woods to take." Jaheira stepped in to hug him, and Damiondred returned the hug with a sigh.

"This is why you're my favourite aunt. But, I already have six in my party. I still have Edwin, he's just doing research."

"Leader, you have five." At Xzar's voice the archer blinked and shifted away from the druid to look over at where the necromancer was carefully bundling up his gear. "Yourself, Edwin, Haer'Dalis, Hexxat and Viconia."

"Did you forget you were a person, my Priest?" The bhaalspawn turned properly, quirking a brow as Xzar fondly laid his spellbook atop the pile and adjusted his plain green robes.

"Hmm, no. But there is something that must be done. For all that I have faith in you, do you have faith in your Priest?"

"I do."

"Then we will meet again. And soon. Trust me, but do not wait for me."

Xzar dipped into a low bow, only to straighten and thread his way through the hall to head for the exit. Damiondred frowned as he left, but simply nodded.

* * *

Imoen huddled in the corner, knees drawn up to her chest as she watched the other residents of Spellhold. All of them mages of some kind, all of them cracked. Most medicated into harmlessness where they sat rocking and muttering to themselves. The really dangerous ones were never allowed outside of their own cells. She tried to tune them out, for the most part, knowing that Irenicus was preparing to make a move of some kind. Why had they taken her too? She wasn't evil. She certainly wasn't crazy, and if she was it was because Irenicus had... Because he had...

A hand gently touched her shoulder, and she shied away until she recognized the chewed fingernails and followed the arm up to vibrant green eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

It wasn't like Xzar always had a plan, but his time insane had given him certain... Insights. Working for the Zhentarim had given him leave to travel the length and breadth of the sword coast, to the point where he had heard of or been in nearly every mental asylum for 'storage' while traveling with Montaron. It certainly hadn't been his first mission with a ball and chain that had allowed him to cross paths with Damiondred, but it was perhaps the only one that he had ever found a measure of actual happiness and contentment.

His memories were a little hazy regarding some of them, but he had his own little house in Athkatla and Amn for a reason. Monty and he were meant to do a job that involved infiltrating the Harpers, and had received a general run down of what was expected of them, what to avoid, and why. He hadn't quite been paying attention, but after some rumination he had a pretty good idea of what he was looking for. He also knew he was the one singularly talented, skilled, and capable enough to get to where he wanted to go. Getting out... Well, he would worry about that later.

Thusly, after a short trek to the Government district, he took his shoes off and stepped into the fountain to start humming and muttering to himself. It wasn't long before his 'work' started drawing attention, guards gathering and trying to drag him kicking and screaming from the ice sculptures he had made of of several robed men sodomizing each other in a nice human centipede around the main section of the fountain.

Not enough to draw the attention of those he wanted. So be it.

A subtle utterance of another spell while a guard tried to wrestle him to the ground resulted in a proverbial stampede of small, undead animal skeletons clambering up legs and nipping at private parts. He was released, bounced back to his feet and hooted and hollered before cackling in glee until an orb enclosed him and cut him off from the outside world. He poked the inside of the dome, identified the type of spell and giggled while gnawing on his thumb nail.

There was a brief deliberation from outside the bubble, and he canted his head to the side with his eyes wide and full of wonder as one of the Cowled Wizards turned towards him and began to chant. The bubble dispersed, and Xzar was mid-way through mentioning he knew stories of dragons with feet like rabbits before their teleportation spell took hold. Processing was about what was expected, and he could tell by the familiar taste of the potions they forced him to drink that they largely were sedatives. Lavender, chamomile, lemon balm.

Closing his eyes, he silently prayed. He prayed as the sluggish feeling hit his system and clawed at his consciousness, and prayed when they settled him into the chair. Head lolling, green eyes caught sight of a pink-clad figure in the corner and he mumbled his way through the fog in his mind. It took two tries, and he had started to lose sight of why he was praying in the first place, before he came back to full consciousness with a sensation similar to that of breaking the surface of a pond for that first breath of air. It was difficult for him to swallow the giddy feeling that swept through him as the tingle of a successful spell faded from his third eye. Priest indeed, and he knew the bhaalspawn had a chance of feeling his essence being drawn upon.

Slowly, Xzar pushed his way to his feet so that he could totter his way towards the pink-clad thief (No, that wasn't right. Pink-clad mage, if she was here. That explained a few things.) to reach out and gently settle his hand on her shoulder. She jerked slightly, as if to try and get away before actually looking at his hand and following it up to his face.

"Hush-a-bye baby, doon't you cry..."

She gaped at him, before reaching out as if to check if he was real as he quietly crooned. The necromancer caught her hand, swaying as he continued to quietly croon even as he mentally compared the scars that laced her hand to the ones that he had studied across her brothers. Not for the first time, he wondered if there was any actual relation between them, but shelved that thought for the long dark hours he doubtless had coming in a padded cell.

"Auuntie and brooother, they did not die... Auuntie will stay, a-cross the sea, while brooother comes running, just to save thee..." He grunted as she threw her arms around him, and he blinked at her as his voice lifted into a nasal whine. "Who you are, know not I. Know you how fast the wild sparrow flies?"

"Xzar you... You don't know me? I thought..." She trailed off, eyes widening as he winked at her, bawdily eyed her up and down with a lascivious ' _preeeety laaaady~!'_ and then turned to teeter back to the chair they had put him in. She watched him go, and curled back in her corner to keep her thoughts to herself.

* * *

Imoen saw Xzar again after that. He never interacted with her more than the others, hooting and hollering whenever his medication began to wear off, bursting into song and periodically giggling and sniggering as he spoke to himself in tongues. She almost believed that he had truly forgotten her until a few days later when one of the patients fought off an orderly with a chair. The ragged looking red-head had turned and caught sight of her before charging across the room with hands outstretched, grasping at her clothing and tearing at it as he howled until something slammed bodily into both of them with a roar. She pried one of the hands off of her and backed into the corner as Xzar clawed and snarled, biting the other patient several times before finally getting him in a headlock and getting him to his knees. The other orderlies had finally gotten into the room and split them up, using syringes to inject both of them. The red-head slumped first, while Xzar muttered and cursed before spitting out part of the ear he had ripped off.

He glanced over at her, as if to make sure she was okay, and she was struck by how utterly sane his eyes were above the bloody, manic grin.

" _Pret-ty Laaady~, gives us a kisss! Dun dun dun dun, make it the bestest, and one that we'll miss..._ " He blew her a kiss as they hauled him off, cackling trailing off as he slumped and his head lolled.

She was certain he knew her then, and that he was there because of her. Who else would Damiondred have trusted to send into a mad house to protect her? To let her know he was coming, without tipping his hand? She remembered learning about the group and their methods from Scar after hauling him out of the alley and into her room through the window, a worried Jaheira casting repeatedly over the human before his colour turned from pale white to a more normal tan and told them, between ragged breaths, everything he knew about what Damiondred had been doing. She had always known her brother was smart, but it seemed as if he had started to grow exponentially after meeting the necromancer.

She remembered how Xzar had watched her brother when she had met them north of Beregost, and almost cried for the death of the child she had been at the hands of Jon Irenicus. When she was returned to her room for the night, she even had proof when she found a rudimentary set of lockpicks had been tucked onto her person sometime during the scuffle. Scavenged wires that looked like straightened hairpins and a nail file. Hope kindled within her, and she clutched them against her chest as she thought about everything she knew about the layout.

The door to her cell opened and she turned, fear overturning hope as Irenicus stood in the doorway.

"Come, girl. We have work to do."

* * *

Xzar lay back in his padded cell. It had been almost a week since he had been teleported into Spellhold. Slow poison was about the most powerful clerical spell he could muster, but every time he used it he could feel the source he drew upon drawing closer. From how the spell would last all day, he knew also that his casting capacity was undiminished from when he had been a faithful of Bhaal and that the limit of his granted power was determined by the limits of the source. How much divine power could be siphoned from a bhaalspawn at once? Could he use the power to heal? Could he call fire down from the sky and form barriers of blades? Could he restore the dead to life?

Eventually, potentially, but the necromancer tucked his hands behind his head as he stared at the ceiling rather than try. With how flimsy the thread connecting them he felt perhaps that the higher tiered spells would require the actual presence of the archer, but that was an experiment for another day. For now, he had to figure out what, exactly, was going on. He had managed to capture a mouse recently, bribing it out with crumbs and then killing it with a deft twist of its neck. A few drops of blood and a sliver of one of his nails was enough to raise the creature and bind it to him, and he used it to scout out what he dared to. The things he had seen through its eyes were worrisome.

Irenicus had wasted no time with his construction, having largely killed anyone who didn't immediately agree to obey him and setting the rest to either keep order or build the contraption in the larger room down a floor and to the south west. He had the general sense that it was meant to use people as a powering force, but without a better look at the workstation that Irenicus rarely left or left unguarded he didn't dare risk his eyes. He had done what he could to give Imoen the tools for freedom, but... There was a piece of the puzzle he was missing. How was she tied into all of this? What did she and the bhaalspawn have in common, that they should be physically tortured in a similar manner while Jaheira and Minsc were by all accounts simply held in cells like cattle?

The archer had recounted some of the conversations between the siblings to him, and he found he liked less and less where his discoveries and ruminations were leading him. What were the odds, after all, of not only one but a second Child of Bhaal being raised among the stuffy tomes of Candlekeep? She had lacked the aura of death that the archer carried with him, and had by all accounts seemed like a well adjusted regular human...

Only one way to truly find out. The taint could express itself a variety of ways, but death was a constant.

* * *

He knew something was different when he woke up. He could feel the whisper of a breeze though his being that held the froth of familiar, barely-contained rage. It felt like smelling a bonfire before seeing it or feeling its heat, hearing the distant roar of flames as they were fanned. Chewing on his lip, he finished his prayers and debated his course of action before the door opened and two orderlies came in and hauled him up. He was jabbed with a needle (A sedative, the advance of which was slowed by his previous prayers, thank... Bhaal? Damiondred? The latter, he decided, as he was the well from which he was drawing such things.) and then hauled along towards a room. They passed empty cells, and he weighed his odds of being able to get a spell out before they noticed, deciding against it considering both of them were much stronger than he was and already had him by the arms.

Eventually, he was stuffed into a glass tube and blinked as it was closed off behind him. He could feel the roaring bonfire nearby, felt the flames seethe and grow, and glanced down. Green eyes followed the rows of tubes before settling on the one in the middle to meet eyes so dark they were black. He immediately launched into casting, body crumpling a moment later as those dark eyes widened.


	9. Chapter 9

Damiondred had just about had it with the delays, but was doing his best to hold his temper.

First, they had to guard a shipment that night. They did, though the Shadow Thief with them was killed by a vampire. They reported that back, and then were told that, the next night, they had to track two defecting members of the Shadow Thieves to the Five Flagons Inn. They did, and the defecters were killed just the same as was the contact they came to meet. Parchment in hand, the group returned to then be informed that they needed to go to the graveyard district (again, at night) and raid the vampire base.

Three days were lost with that, and it didn't help that a fourth was because Hexxat's contact finally decided to show up and send them dungeon crawling for some stupid black claw rod as they passed through the slums. He would have liked to say that he really listened to what Bhodi had said when they had fought, really he was simply frustrated with how she turned into a bat and escaped.

On the fifth day, they finally got on the damn boat and came ashore on the island the Spellhold was on but then two days were lost searching for a wardstone that would let them into the building in the first place. By the time they stepped in and spoke with the Coordinator, Xzar had been gone for a week and while the slight tugs that came paired with nigh inaudible whispers of his voice were as reassuring as they were weird, he was about ready to test the theory as to whether looks could -actually- kill people.

When he woke up in a glass tube after learning that he and his party had been poisoned because of the traitor captain and that the Coordinator was Irenicus, he focused and actually made the attempt. It was made worse by how, once the patients were shuffled into the other tubes, he counted Xzar among them and watched the necromancer weave his hands through a complicated pattern. A tug on his essence came a brief moment before green eyes went dull and lifeless and the body crumpled. He was fairly certain that he almost broke one of his own fingers when he punched the glass, but he was beyond caring. It had ever so slightly cracked, and he struck it again. He didn't even hear what Irenicus was saying through the pounding of his pulse. The worst part was that Imoen was standing nearby with a vacant expression on her face.

The mage bastard was casting some kind of spell, by then, and as the glass gave way before him finished his incantation. White hot pain seared through him before he knew nothing at all.

* * *

When he opened his eyes, Damiondred came to understand he was face-down outside of Candlekeep's massive stone library. Where there had been fountains there now was black pits through which stars could be seen, and he vaguely recalled seeing the place like this before in a dream. Imoen stood near, mumbling about not fighting, about finding her, and he reached out to her only for her to blow away like so much dust in the wind. Sitting up, he took stock of his surroundings and sighed at the demon that stood before the doors to the keep, watching him idly. It opened its maw as he stood and approached.

"This path is to the core... the depths of your soul. Only through sacrifice can you achieve such insight. Do you give of yourself that you will know yourself? Do you let go of what you are, that you might see from a distance? Choose what you will sacrifice to know yourself, to walk within. Give of your skill, your health, your mind, your will or your youth."

"I will give you nothing."

"Then the way holds fast. You do more damage to yourself with your bumbling."

The archer turned around and walked away, moving to sit down a short distance away. A glance back proved to him that the demon did not pursue, and that it simply seemed content to watch. He mulled it over for a moment, before sighing and pushing himself back to his feet and begrudgingly approaching the demon once more.

"You have changed your mind?"

"Is there any way out of here without giving up anything?"

It pointed to the holes where the fountains had been, and he knew immediately that it simply meant death.

"... -Without- dying?"

"This is the space that lay between, Child of Bhaal, and the result of your grey moments. Much like a dream, it stretches seconds to days while your body dies. Even if you choose nothing, you will disappear as did your brother."

"Right. I give of my health then."

It nodded, before stepping aside. Pushing his way through the door, he searched the bookshelves before catching sight of Imoen and bolting over to her, dropping the book he had picked up.

"Immy! I found you, we came to rescue you-"

"I... I can see you there... Wait... And we can win..." She reached up to put a hand to her head, frowning slightly as she shook her head.

"Imoen? Are you okay?" The archer leaned forward, reaching out to grasp her by the shoulder and shake her slightly. She reached up to grasp his arm and pressed a finger against his mouth.

"Shh... Before the shadows return to me. I have seen what is to come... One alone cannot fight... Together we must battle your instinct... Alone, you would fall whether you win or lose... but here, in my sight... we can defeat it. Lead the creature here - lead it to me - and we shall fight it together. Together... he does not expect us together... but he has shown me how... Go and lead the beast here. It is your only chance... and my last..."

He didn't quite know what to make of that, until he turned around to see his mirrored image standing nearby with his hands folded behind his back.

"It's you she's talking about, isn't it."

"Yes." His mirrored image smiled slightly. "You were so close to getting him. You let yourself get too angry to realize who it was until too late, though."

"You're right. I made the same mistake as Sarevok, didn't I." The archer grimaced, before shaking his head. "So... Do we have to fight? I'd rather just get out of here, honestly."

"It's tempting. If I devour the spark of your consciousness, your body becomes mine. The Slayer becomes reborn, and I tear through this world in a glorious spray of blood."

"Seems a bit clumsy, but after what I just did I guess I don't have much room to talk. What would happen if I won this theoretical fight?"

"No, no you don't. You would wake up, but it would only be long enough to finish dying. With her here, though... She found a way to hold onto herself without the divine soul, using the remnants of her stunted taint to keep herself from breaking to pieces the way you are."

Damiondred ahh'd quietly, before pursing his lips. "Can't say I'm a fan of dying, nor of the thought of being eaten by you. Any chance of you working with me on this?"

"Hmm, well you -have- carved a swath of death recently. Our Faithful knew what was going to happen as soon as he was within the tube, and his prayers sustain us only slightly less than killing someone does. The problem with working with you, though, is that it means instead of devouring you..." His mirrored image trailed off, grimacing as the archer continued his words.

"... Is that you'd be devoured by me."

The mirrored image nodded. "He removed your divine soul. There wouldn't be anything keeping us separate, all that would be left is to determine which consciousness is left. Naturally, you can see why I'm not particularly fond of this option."

"I can. I can also see why it would come down to a fight, too. You know my plans, though. All I could ask is that you have faith that I complete them." Damiondred stepped forward, offering out his hand.

"Do you remember the table, and the hearts?" His mirrored image reached up, raking a hand through its hair. "If I do this, you have to keep one of them with you, above all others."

"I tried. He's dead-"

"The body is. The soul is still close. Viconia has the rod. Swear it to me. Swear it -on- me, so that should you fail I will rise up and devour you from the inside out."

Damiondred paused for a moment, before nodding and lifting his hand once more. "I swear it."

The mirrored image split and burst, spines sprouting out as it grew in size. Red scales sheathed it, and a long sinewy tail lashed behind it as it reached out with one large, clawed hand to shake his own. He looked back at Imoen and smiled slightly at the confused look on her face as they both turned towards her.

"So. What happens now?"

* * *

Tiny eyes watched the bolt of lightning streak through the tube the Bhaalspawn was trapped within and held a breath it didn't have. It saw the glow that suffused Irenicus, and waited for the bhaalspawn to disintegrate into a thousand thousand glowing sparks. A tiny jaw hit the floor as he failed to and instead lifted his head to stare at a surprised Irenicus.

"Well, you are a strong one indeed! You resist beyond all reason! A pity you are dead on the inside."

"You cannot turn me on myself. I have strengths you cannot see."

"I don't know what you faced while mired within the spell, but here in the world of the living, my plans have gone just as I wished. I have drained you- drained you of the very thing that made you special. It is the worst of curses, and I should know."

"I will not let you harm Imoen further."

"I have no doubt you would, but you are no longer a living threat. I have taken your very divinity and drained you of your very soul. The curse that was wrought against Bhodi and I has now ceased, and yours has begun. You will wither, you will wane, and you will die. Bhodi, remove this nothing... and Imoen as well. We are restored at their expense and need them no longer. Our revenge to come is now all the sweeter."

"As you would have it, my brother."

"Of course. See to it as quickly as possible. I will tell our friends in the dark of our coming. We will plan our assault from here. I bid you farewell, child of Bhaal, we shall not meet again."

Tiny eyes watched as the bhaalspawn pushed effortlessly through the rest of the glass, brushing shards away even as Irenicus began casting and vanished. It stiffened as dark eyes settled on it, the archers head tilting before he looked back at the vampire.

"You are going to tell me where my friends are, Bhodi."

"Why should I? Your life comes to an end. A pity. You have proven resilient beyond all expectation. It is appealing to me."

Damiondred threw his head back and laughed, only to shake his head and reach up as if to wipe a tear from his eye. "Well, if you like it that much, how about a game? If I win, take me to Irenicus. If I lose, I'll bare my neck and let you drain me with the same ease as sucking the juice from a plum. Ahh, but where would the fun be if I did it alone. Bhaal's balls, why don't I wager the lives of the people that came with me? Provided, of course, that they get to join me for it."

"Ohh... I have a maze that it would be so fun watching you flounder through... Very well. I will transport you and your friends there-" Bhodi frowned as Damiondred drew the two handed sword and swung it, cleaving through the glass tank that held Xzar's body before hauling him out by the scruff of his neck. "What are you doing?"

"I swore an oath. I'm keeping it."

Tiny eyes widened as the bhaalspawn approached and knelt down, offering out a hand that seemed impossibly large.

"I'm not done with you yet, my Priest. Come on."

* * *

Damiondred tucked the undead mouse atop his head, before turning and nodding to Bhodi as she led the way, reaching to snag Imoen by the hand and lead her along. The rest of his party were in one of the rooms that had previously housed the patients, and he brushed off their questions as vampires stared hungrily down at them as he approached Viconia. The door closed behind them before the ceiling and floor lit up, glowing painfully bright and leaving everyone blinking as they realized they were in the middle of a large room with walkways along the edges.

"Viconia."

The drow turned, squinting as the archer came into focus. She took stock of him, of how his hand bled from the shards of glass that remained lodged between his knuckles and the very dead necromancer he was dragging by the robes to the vacant-eyed human in pink that was vaguely familiar to her. "Abbil? What happened?"

"Later. This is more important. Do you still have the rod?" Dark eyes seemed to stare through her, and she suppressed a shiver.

"I do. He seems to have been dead for some time-"

"The soul is present and accounted for. There will be no issues. Use the rod." The body was laid out as best as could be done with one hand until the others moved to help him, and he carefully settled the mouse on Xzar's chest. Viconia drew out the rod and gently tapped it against the crown of the necromancer's forehead and the body sucked in a breath before green eyes gained life and he stared blankly towards the ceiling.

"Xzar."

The necromancers eyes flit towards the bhaalspawn and blinked rapidly for a moment before he spoke, voice hoarse. "I saw. I saw all of it."

"Good. How do I fix her?" Damiondred tilted his head towards Imoen.

"Reclaim what was taken." Xzar sat up slowly, peering around at the others. "Edwin, Haer'Dalis, Hexxat, A... Bear? Right. Wilson. Yourself, and Viconia. Good."

"Now then. I'll explain on the way. Xzar, I believe these are yours." The archer let go of Imoen's hand so that he could dig through the bag of holding Hexxat's coffin was kept in, producing the effects the necromancer had removed when he had left the party. The former Zhent nodded and started to get dressed as the archer turned towards the rest of the group. "For some of you, this is the first time meeting my sister. For others, this is the second time. Most of you know that I am... was, a bhaalspawn. Although Imoen and I grew up together, we always thought we had completely different parents. Seems we have one in common. Irenicus used her as bait and as a reagent, the first to get me here and the second to steal her divine soul and pass it along to Bhodi, I would assume. She called him brother, after all."

"He did the same thing to me, but took mine for his own. He said he was familiar with this curse, and from what I can remember of our time in his previous lair I won't feel much in the way of emotions for a while. The dryads said he was dead inside, and he said much the same thing of me. He thinks I will wither and die soon, that I'm no longer a threat to him." Damiondred studied each of the people in the room in turn, eyes narrowing. "I intend to prove him wrong. I may not feel anger at the moment but I remember the taste of it. What he did to me, does not erase the past. He will pay. But first, I have a new name on my list, and one that is more important. Bhodi."

"The vampiress?" Hexxat lifted her chin, before grinning widely.

"Yes. Vampires turn to mist when killed but she made a grave mistake, taking Imoen's divine essence into herself. We're going to go through this gauntlet, find her and take back what was stolen from my sister, and then pursue Irenicus. Edwin, did you consider my proposal?"

"I did. It is a good one, and I agree to the terms that were laid out. It is... Unfortunate, that the girl is catatonic but I will make due. (It makes her company less bothersome, if nothing else.)"

"Thank you." Damiondred turned towards Imoen, reaching out to brush some hair out of her face. "This is Edwin. He is the most dangerous mage I have ever known. I had intended him to protect you, to have to convince you of the importance of this, but I suppose this can be seen as things working out in my favour. He will keep you safe"

She didn't respond, but the archer thought perhaps that was for the best as he led her over to the Thavian. "Follow us at a short distance until we get out of here."

"(As if I have never acted as a bodyguard before...!) I know what I am doing, Damiondred. You would not have hired me for this if you did not think me capable." Edwin scowled, using his staff to poke and prod Imoen until she was standing beside him. Th archer draped his familiar around her neck, before nodding and stepping back to look at the rest of the group.

"Let's go."

* * *

Most of the puzzles were easy enough to figure out. Items were matched to statues, riddles were answered, a djinni was spoken with and mithril tokens were inserted into a construct of sorts that eventually spat out three pairs of boots and a set of armor that Haer'Dalis immediately traded up to. A second bag of holding was found and used to hold the majority of the yet-undivided loot while they worked their way through the tests an apparition demanded of them. Stepping through the provided door, the group found themselves within the asylum once more, and the archer canted his head to the side.

Something was pulling him towards it, and he led the party through the halls until he entered the room Bhodi had led them from perhaps half an hour before. Stepping into the room, he looked towards the source of the pull and grunted when he spotted Irenicus, who was talking idly with Bhodi even as he packed some of the equipment away into a bag.

"I asked you to kill them, Bhodi. It is unlike you to fail me."

"You do not order me around, brother. My spawn did your work, and my prize is the right to choose when I kill them." She grinned, before moving to lean against the broken tank. "Besides, you seem so confident that they cannot kill you. I like watching their struggles."

Damiondred stepped forward, about to open his mouth before doubling over and wheezing, clutching his chest. Hands settled on his shoulders before recoiling, and from somewhere far way he heard Xzar snapping out orders to the others to get back. Pain erupted across his back and shoulders, and laughter assaulted his sensibilities as white-hot pain and rage overtook him.

"Look, even now his body fails him..."

* * *

Xzar had seen paintings of the full thing before. He had felt an echo of the bonfire that had burned the moment the archer had doubled over and struggled to draw air. Laying his hands on Damiondred's shoulders the necromancer had felt the muscles start to ripple and bulge and turned to the others with his arms raised and splayed out.

"Back! Back! Hexxat, at my side! Viconia, Wilson, Haer'Dalis! Corner! Do -NOT- challenge him, weapons down!"

Muscle ripped and tore with a particularly wet sound as behind the necromancer, the archer's form tore and spines burst out of his back. A line of growths surged along his back before fusing together and tearing free, slapping down onto the ground with a meaty thud in the form of a tail that effectively doubled the growing height of the bhaalspawn, shreds of clothing shaking free as it eventually stilled and rumbled out a low tone. By then, Xzar had planted himself squarely between the Slayer and the bulk of the group, Hexxat standing beside and slightly behind him with wide eyes.

A fanged maw lifted, nostrils flaring as a short-muzzled face turned to orient on the group. Xzar bowed his head, mumbling quietly under his breath before a shimmer of reds and blacks flickered around him.

"Sanctuary? How-?" Hexxat reached back to clamp a hand over Viconia's mouth as the Slayer rumbled out a low, predatory growl. Pushing itself up, it approached and nosed the shimmering field.

"A gift of the dead god? I thought I stripped every ounce of his essence from you with your divine soul." The voice of Irenicus echoed through the room, and the Slayer's white glowing pupils set on a background of polished black constricted to mere pinpricks as it turned around to orient on the sound. He scoffed, raising his hands. "Perhaps you are a threat after all. No matter. I will end you now-"

The Slayer hit him with the force of a much larger creature, howling all the while. The first strike flung Irenicus across the room like a rag doll as his spell completed. A rose bloomed over the Slayer's head, only to wither and disappear as it was ignored in favour of another charge and second swat that slammed the mage through another of the glass tubes. Bounding along in pursuit, the lengthy maw snapped open and closed around air as Jon vanished and reappeared across the room in front of Xzar.

"Very well then. Let us see if it will dare. You cannot lower your protections without it attacking you as well." Turning towards the Slayer, Irenicus smiled, looking pleased as it slowed and halted in front of him. "A kernel of intelligence resides with it still, it see-"

Xzar positively beamed as the tail coiled around Jon's foot and hauled him away and into range of the claws that raked sharply across his torso, tearing great furrows in the layers of Stoneskin that he hurriedly raised and hissing as it found no purchase in the flesh therein. Frost spread out from each point of contact before the Slayer dropped to all fours and twisted, slamming the mage against the floor and then partially through the nearby wall. It aimed to slam him against the floor once more save for how he vanished out of the grasp of the spined tail and reappeared next to Bhodi, the appendage meeting the floor with an empty slap.

"This is entirely your doing, Bhodi. But no matter. It will wear itself out and die all the quicker for it." He reached out to grasp his sister by the shoulder, and they both vanished just as the Slayer slammed through the space they had occupied, barreling through the remains of the glass tube that the archer had been imprisoned in before. Raising its head, it let out a bellow before Xzar turned to the rest of the group and gestured for them to stay before hurrying across.

"Da~Mi~On-" The spined tail snapped about his waist and hauled him in close to the teeth, claws raking across but stopping just shy as the snarl shifted into a rumble. He gave it a pained smile as the tail tightened painfully around his ribs, wheezing slightly. "Oof. Yes yes, safe, see? You know me, to the very center of your being. You would not hurt me, would you? No more than you would yourself?"

The points of glowing white that marked the pupils grew somewhat larger as it continued to rumble, though at the necromancer's tugging on the spines along its tail seemed to slowly catch on and relax its grip. Contemplatively, it settled onto its haunches and canted its head to the side, clawed hands coming up to wave over its face before a confused whine emerged.

"Good, good... Frrriends, yes? Yes. I can breath like this. Hexxat! Come here, but approach slowly! I have an idea!"

"Why does it not attack you as it did the mage?" The vampire eased carefully closer, going utterly still as it snapped its gaze to her and hissed.

"Nooo, nono, this is Hexxat Heeexx-at. Not food. Not foe." Xzar waved a hand to get the Slayer's attention, before leaning and reaching out to gently pat the approaching vampire on the head. "Hexxat is, uhm... Friend. Hunting-companion? Pack member. He scents himself upon my flesh and the very substance of my spirit. He hears the words spoken by the Faithful. Leader has proven to be exceptionally intelligent, if a smidge unwise, and 'tis still him in there."

It rumbled, hissed, sniffed and eventually mimicked the necromancer's gesture carefully if somewhat awkwardly, patting the vampire on the head. Maw opening, it started to croon before flinching and raising a hand to its head. Xzar dropped to the ground out of the loosened coil of tail with a worried glance before turning to the vampire. "We thought as much... Speak to him of your transformations. Talk to him. Describe it, how it feels. Bhaalspawn who turn into the Slayer do not last long at rest, for their cause is murder, and he has never previously changed his shape."

Hexxat ahh'd quietly, understanding now why the necromancer had called her over beyond her enhanced durability compared to the rest of the party, and raised her hands to get the Slayer's attention. It growled low, only to let out a pained hiss and clutch at its chest with its other hand, watching her. "Picture yourself as you should be, Damiondred. Hair, limbs, skin. Dark eyed and tanned. Short, blunt nails. A delicate nose. Long legs, long arms. Remember what it felt like to wear boots, how your hair felt when it got in front of your face."

Xzar looked back and forth between the two, eyes partially closing as he focused and reached out to carefully lay a hand on the Slayer's side. It flinched, craning around to stare at him before clasping both hands over its face and letting out a growl that reverberated through the room. As the vampire continued to talk, he could feel the muscles spasm and contract before the Slayer seemed to almost collapse inwards on itself. Scales receded, spines retracted and bones snapped even as tendons and cartilage crunched and crackled. The necromancer stepped forward as the archer collapsed, wheezing and groaning while the rest of the party approached.

"Abbil? Xzar, will he be okay?"

"Yes, with rest-"

"Xzar... Xzar I think... I think I understand..." The archer tried to get his own feet under him, wincing as the necromancer steadied him. "... Why... Why Ira didn't do that so often."

"A painful transformation?"

"Yes, but... For a moment, I had emotion. Rage, glee... My head hurts."

The drow stepped forward, laying a hand on his shoulder as she completed a prayer of healing.

"Thank's, Viconia."

"You may thank me by putting some trousers on, Abbil."


	10. Chapter 10

As reluctant as some of them were to continue, the Archer was up and walking around with a pair of Xzar's trousers (which were a little short in the leg, but they were making due with what they had) within a few minutes. Bare foot and with his brothers sword bare and braced by the blunt side against his shoulder, Damiondred made his way carefully through the halls as the rest of the party followed. It wasn't long before the smell of burning flesh drew them to the smouldering corpse in the hallway, Edwin leaning over it and poking it with the staff a few times. He looked up as they approached, and raised his hand.

"He made to strike first. I know you are disinclined to allow those who fought with you to fight each other, but you charged me-"

"Is that Yoshimo? Don't worry. In fact, I should be thanking you. Viconia, use the rod on him, please." The archer leaned against the wall, raking a hand back through his hair as the drow stepped in and tapped the smouldering corpse with the item in question, stepping back as flesh regrew across charred bones before Yoshimo sucked in a breath. "Thank you. Yoshimo. Fancy meeting you here. Are you going with the 'I'm a prisoner the same as you' bit again?"

"Nnn... Yes, I am. You do not understand, I-" He winced, clutching his chest before scrambling to his feet. "I have to kill you, I am... I am sorry, I-"

The archer cut him off with a casual swing of the two handed sword, cleaving partially through the body and watching him gurgle and wheeze into stillness before using a foot to kick the dead kara-turan off the blade. As the bhaalspawn nodded to Viconia, she leaned forward to tap the rod against Yoshimo once more. She stepped back as the wound sealed.

"How many charges are left?"

"Seven."

"Six more than I'm going to need. Don't worry, Yoshimo I'm only going to kill you one more time, at the worst. Where are Jaheira and the others, and why do you work for Irenicus?"

"Athkatla! They are in Athkatla-"

"Hey, Viconia, do you think he remembers dying after being brought back? You mentioned a long time ago that this is something your people do, right?" Damiondred leaned against the sword, contemplating the human on the ground as the cleric of Shar nodded.

"They do, Abbil. It is more effective if you kill them slower."

"Thank's. I'm relatively new to this and I think I'm only able to because I don't really feel much of anything at the moment. Might take a few more tries before I get it down. Are you -sure- they're in Athkatla? You're not lying to me?" The archer studied Yoshimo as the human backed against the wall, clutching his chest with one hand and holding the other out as if it could keep him from being killed again, eyes wide.

"No! I am not lying! I don't... I don't have a choice when it comes to working for Irenicus, but you and your sister were the only targets! Mostly you! Your friends are in Athkatla and safe!"

"Hmm. Well, I believe you, but if you don't have a choice that means either you're being compelled or he's got something over you. Anyone have any ideas? I've got a splitting headache and I've half a mind just to kill him a final time."

"It could be a geas, or a quest spell." Edwin smoothed his fingers along the little bit of a groomed goatee he had, looking thoughtful. "(Or it could be family members, but he is clutching his chest...)"

"Right. I'm assuming a restoration of some kind?" Damiondred turned to Viconia, who pursed her lips and shook her head.

"I only recently gained the ability to call back spirits from the brink. I do not have that kind of restoration yet."

"It theoretically could be removed as a curse, but only if the caster were far more powerful than the caster of the geas." The Necromancer settled into a crouch, chewing on his own thumbnail in thought. "None of us singularly are stronger than Irenicus. But together...? 'Tis four of us of the arcane bent and one of the divine, yes? Damiondred, Edwin, Haer'Dalis, this one and Viconia. Varying levels of power but, with unified intent..."

"You would need power equivalent to that of a wish! (Even I do not have that power!)" Edwin raised his hands in protest, only to quiet as the archer leaned over Yoshimo and hummed thoughtfully.

"The question is why should I make it worth my while to even try to remove it in the first place." The bhaalspawn sighed, studying the panicking kara-turan.

"This also raises a question, Necromancer. Your god is dead. How did you come to cast the spell of sanctuary?" Viconia narrowed her eyes as Xzar stood and clasped his hands behind his back.

"It was his idea, to even try. Before he was taken, we... Practiced. Experimented. I am granted minor healing abilities and other such small uses of his blessings, and in return my belief assists in empowering him. He is to become a god."

Wilson grumbled and growled, head tilting to the side as he sat down in the hallway next to where Hexxat and Haer'Dalis were trying very hard to look like they weren't eavesdropping as they idly braided the catatonic Imoen's hair.

"It -is- possible." Green eyes settled on the bear, before fliting back to the drow and settling upon red ones. "He is a direct descendant. Divinity flows through his veins. Soulless, he stands before you, a weaver of fate. With the proper grooming he need only meet the correct conditions such as attaining a portfolio-"

"How badly do you want to live, Yoshimo? I won't force you to do anything. I'm not going to become your new master, I'm very big on people choosing their own paths after all. It's as Xzar says, though, and while my progenitor was the god of murder I'm looking to specialize in revenge." The archer shifted to lean casually against the wall as he peered down at the bounty hunter, head tilting slightly. "And I think you would very much like to take revenge on Irenicus too, wouldn't you. I believe you, you know, when you say that you don't want to work for him."

"You are -crazy-!" Yoshimo shook his head slowly, sagging slightly before pressing the palms of his hands against his eyes. "Of -course- I want to live! But to do this, I must kill you-"

"And then what? And then he uses you for whatever is next, until there's nothing left of you." Pushing off the wall, he looked at Viconia as he hefted the sword. "We're running out of time, and Irenicus is getting away. How long can someone stay dead before a resurrection won't work on them any more?"

"Ten years, Abbil."

"Oh, well that's fortunate. Plenty of time then. Goodnight, Yoshimo."

"No, wait-!"

It was more difficult than expected to fit the corpse into the bag, but Hexxat volunteered the use of the one with her coffin in it and showed him how to adjust the neck somewhat to the full two foot by two foot opening. It was how they got the coffin in the first place, which he supposed was why it was the better choice. They were careful to sew him into a shroud before stuffing him in, and hefted the sack a few times before looking at the others.

"Wilson, I think I know why Jaheira send you with us. I'm thankful for that, too, but I have to send you back to her, and you know it. No, don't look at me like that. Use your nose and sniff out where Irenicus went, and then take this to Sine at the docks." He offered out the wardstone after digging it out of the bag, and the bear grumbled before sniffing around and ambling off.

They came across the captain, Saemon, but it was short lived as the archer strode up to him, patted him on the shoulder as he talked about the options of sailing on his ship or traveling through the portal to the Underdark and then blanched as the archer abruptly ran him through with his brothers sword. They found a curious silver blade in his possession, and stuck it in the bag of holding.

"Xzar, write up a letter for Sine. Let her know about how she just inherited a ship and that I need Wilson to go back to Jaheira and let her know what happened. It's a far better idea than I originally had for Wilson. In the meantime, Viconia, I want you to go back with Wilson. I'm sure you understand why."

"Abbil-"

"No, Vic. You've mentioned more than a few times about how difficult it was to escape. I'm not dragging you back into that hell. Go back with Wilson. Live out a good life on the surface. Who knows, I might even survive this and find you again, but I refuse to gift wrap and hand you to the very world you escaped. I owe you too much to allow that to happen."

She blinked at him, surprised and slowly closed her mouth as the necromancer pressed a piece of parchment into her hand. "... At least take the shield with you-"

"None of us would use it."

"The rod then. And my potions."

The archer studied her for a moment, before nodding and holding his hand out to accept them from her and then look towards the door the captain had said the portal was behind.

"Goodbye, Viconia."

He turned and left abruptly, the rest of the group filing down the hallway after him to leave her alone save for the bear that gently nuzzled her hand for scritches.

The darkness was chased away by the flame that burst from the conjurer's palm, and he stared at the others as the portal closed behind him. "For the record, I would like to say that this is an idea on par with willingly entering a planar prison."

"We escaped. We weren't even there an hour." Damiondred glanced at Hexxat as she removed Dragomir's cloak and tucked it away, and she caught the nod that indicated she should start scouting with a wave and a nod of her own before disappearing into the darkness.

"There are two humans who cannot see in the dark, and two bhaalspawn who, when I last checked, also could not see in the dark. (It is as if I must spell everything out. Tch.)" Edwin narrowed his eyes, before pointing to the fire that wreathed his hand. "This? Dangerous. Underground often houses explosive fumes."

"Did you never learn magelight? Xzar, help him with that, please. Still, you have a good point. Light attracts things down here. I have the infravision spell. Lasts two hours, so those without the ability to see should have... Five prepared a day down here, minimum. I can manage four. Haer'Dalis?"

"Aye, my raven, our casting abilities seem similar in this regard, though I need not cast it for myself. I will supplement those who need it, but need we not cast it on your sister? Yon rose-breasted cockatoo need not see, as she must be led regardless?"

Damiondred nodded, before scrubbing a hand across his face with a sigh. "A good point. That limits Xzar and Edwin to a handful of alternate spells otherwise, but cuts down on the number we'll have to cast otherwise. I know Hexxat's going to be fine down here. Better than fine. Without having to wear the cloak all the time she's the strongest of us all."

"Leader-"

"Xzar, are you going to remind me that I just about died recently, that I'm barefoot and still wobbling from the aftereffects of the - what did you call it, the Slayer? - transformation, and recommend that we rest soon?"

Xzar clasped his hands behind his back and wiggled slightly where he stood, looking hesitant and cautious. "Ye-esss...?"

"Good. Once Hexxat gets back we need to camp to adjust our spells either way. She'll be back soon." He shifted to lean against the wall, rubbing at his temples once he had tucked the two handed sword beside him. "Did I make a mistake? Bhaal's balls, I'm exhausted. Viconia is the natural choice to keep with us down here, with her knowledge of the terrain, darkvision and clerical spells but I know she wouldn't have been happy."

"You remember caring for her." The necromancer gave Edwin a -look- that clearly said the conjurer was ill equipped to answer the question that had been asked. The Thavian closed his mouth and threw up his hands, turning to keep watch as best he could as Xzar stepped in to lean against the wall next to the bhaalspawn. "You did what you would have done if you could still feel fondness. Is that what you were thinking?"

"Yeah."

"Ahh, the matters of the heart... I do not envy you your inability to feel, my Raven. The dark-feathered night owl that flew with us was starting to warm up to you. You were right to keep her safe." Haer'Dalis flashed a smile as he leaned against the wall of the tunnel opposite the Bhaalspawn, leading Imoen to stand beside him.

"I took away her choice. That will bother me, when I can feel again." The archer frowned faintly. "A worry for when I actually can. Hexxat, what did you find?"

The vampire paused at the edge of the light before stepping closer. "I am impressed. I thought I was moving quietly."

"You were. I could feel you like an incoming point of death."

They settled down to camp in an alcove, with Hexxat volunteering to keep watch after she had left for and returned from the duergar traders with a handful of Topsider's Crutches and a much emptier bag of holding. She also came back with a few sets of clothes, which Xzar took to hemming and adjusting to try and make clothing that would fit someone who wasn't a dwarf. The archer accepted his ring and stretched out on the ground with his brothers sword tucked against his chest, and was out almost as soon as he closed his eyes.

"I thought I was done for."

Damiondred opened his eyes, taking in the sight of bookshelves and stairs. Candlekeep library, the second floor. Cracks lined the floor and walls. "It's good to see that you weren't. That wasn't actually Imoen, was it."

"It was a close call, and no. That was the shape your soul took, which is why she isn't here right now. I played along so that you wouldn't get angry and try and find the real her." His mirrored image sighed from where he sat on the steps, elbows on his knees and hands clasped. "I don't have much time, though. Over the last several hours it's gotten... Harder, to concentrate. To remember what I am. I think... I don't have much longer to remain a consciousness here. I almost can't keep this place together, but I have to. There are things you need to know. Come, sit with me."

The bhaalspawn nodded and moved to sit down next to his mirrored image.

"The Slayer... Me. My power. You can die, using it. You burn your candle at both ends, and in return you get enormous power. You can hit something five times in six seconds, carry a thousand pounds, and every attack that you make, nothing has the power to be immune to those. Nothing can stop death after all, only delay it a little bit. You, can probably last about half a minute, maybe a minute before you start to break apart from the simple nature of the change. It's a valuable gift, and one that you better appreciate." The mirrored image jabbed a finger at the bhaalspawn, who looked thoughtful and nodded.

"I don't remember much of it, but from what I've been told we knocked Irenicus around like a rag doll. If nothing else, I appreciate you for that."

"Yeah, that was great." They grinned at each other, before Damiondred paused.

"Wait... I have emotions here. I can feel things."

"Because of me. Jon Irenicus may have taken your soul, but there are things that remain after mind and reason are stripped away. Instinct, and I bring echoes of the raw emotions that are deeply tied to such a thing. Remember when I told you that you could only choose a few hearts to take with you? Those hearts, those few are the ones that you will instinctively refrain from attacking, because they're yours."

"Like Xzar. I have a hazy memory of looking down at him as he waved his hands."

"Yes, like Xzar. These few are permament, and can't be changed. It's like... Imprinting. There are hearts you seek out, too."

Damiondred nodded, eyes narrowing. "Like Irenicus."

"Like Irenicus, yes. That, however, is just tied to how badly you want to kill someone. Murderous Instinct. But you can control it, with practice and patience. You're a fast learner. I'd say another two times and you'll be awake from start to finish."

They sat in companionable silence for a few long moments as part of the plaster across one of the walls cracked and fell to the ground in showers of golden sparks that slowly disappated, a pale yellow light shining through the resulting space just as it did all the others.

"Hey, you've been with me from the start, haven't you. Right from when I was conceived? When did you, I don't know. Wake up. What's your earliest memory?"

His mirrored image glanced over, head tilting. "The first time you ever killed anything. You were six, and it was a pet fish."

"That's... Earlier than mine. Farthest back I can remember is sitting on Gorion's knee, staring up at him and mushing what I've been told was the cake from my tenth birthday into his hair." Damiondred leaned back and stretched his legs out, looking up at the ceiling. "What is this place, by the way?"

"The Room of your Soul. Everyone has one. It takes the shape of whatever it is that resonates with you on a personal level. I'd bet Imoen's life on whether you could navigate these halls blind and deaf without having to reach out and touch anything for reference." The mirrored image chuckled, and the bhaalspawn joined in before settling back onto his elbows. "It's a perceived space, not an actual one. It's like a dream, that way, and you can learn a lot about a person by the form theirs takes."

"We've been influencing each other for a very long time then, even before I was aware of it. What I'm curious about, is if you're the Instinct, or Bhaal's heritage, and Imoen was the shape my soul took... What am I?"

"The consciousness. The waking mind. The soul is normally a subconscious thing that just sort of... Exists, and ties everything together. Three types of dye in a cup of water. Stir them around, and you still have the basic components even if they're all blended together. Imoen's consciousness is still there somewhere, it's just the trauma that's forced her under."

"So... It's not that her soul is missing?"

"It could be the trauma from that, but not that actual fact. Irenicus split the two for both of you, I suspect it's because he didn't want your waking minds tagging along for the ride."

Part of the ceiling crumbled, disintegrating and dispersing like a cloud of golden fireflies before it hit the ground, and they settled into a companionable silence once more before Damiondred glanced over.

"Can I stay here, until...?"

"I don't know why you'd want to."

"What am I supposed to do, just let you die alone? You're mine, just the same as Xzar. That's a very important distinction to me."

The Slayer paused, before looking over in surprise.

Damiondred opened his eyes to the silence and stillness of the Underdark broken only by the quiet breathing of his party members and the subdued humming of Haer'Dalis as the tiefling kept watch. He looked over, catching the heat signature of the blade as he leaned against the wall and stretched idly before the bhaalspawn frowned and focused. He could see the silhouette of Haer'Dalis with sudden clarity, a silver-green ghostly outline that highlighted facial features and reddened along the arms until the tiefling's hands were a bright, cherry red. A glance at Xzar confirmed his suspicions, when the necromancer was suffused with a mix of dark greys and equally dark reds. He could tell who they were, the instinctive knowledge of who they were clear to him as their moral alignment, and a moment of rest let the world shift back into its normal infravision-induced hues.

Shaking his head slightly, he closed his eyes and waited for his turn to keep watch. The thought of glancing at his own hands occurred to him, but he pushed the thought out of his mind. There were other things to contemplate.


	11. Chapter 11

The portals were... Interesting. Thus far they had uncovered three of them, one each for air, earth and fire elementals. The portals had spat out ten elementals before seeming to refuse to spit out more. Damiondred used them largely for practice, and the party had settled down near one of them to eat some lunch and patch their wounds. Xzar dithered about for a moment, before sitting down and rubbing his temples.

"You're worried about drawing on me, aren't you. Because of what Irenicus said."

The necromancer's head came up as he glanced over, before hunkering down once more and nodding slowly. "Will it hasten your end? What far-reaching consequences will this have on you, now lacking your divine soul? We already determined that utilizing it to heal you is more a matter of simply re-distributing your own energy, and that thus - while it will heal you - tires you after a period of time. Dare I draw repeatedly while we are in the Underdark, as the only one with healing capabilities applicable to others? Hexxat is fine, she recovers on her own and we have a singular ring of regeneration to share, but for the rest of us? A conjurer, a necromancer and half-baked priest, a blade and a catatonic girl-child. These are all things that must be considered."

"Use it. If someone is dying, use it. If you are dying, use it. I don't care if it makes me tired, you are all useless to me dead and there are only so many charges of the rod left." Damiondred sighed, before rubbing his temples. "Now then. The gnome we freed, they said they had a home nearby that we could collect a reward at? Maybe this gesture of good will we did for them can help us find where we need to go."

* * *

The gnomes were indeed willing to help them, on the condition that they were helped first. Considering the description of the problem he found he couldn't fault them, considering the sheer number of lives being lost on a regular basis to this creature in the pit. They stood outside the stone doors as the gnome guarding it scampered back before the archer rubbed his temples once more. The world around him froze, and everything felt particularly heavy before the world around him started moving smoothly once more.

"Did... Anyone else feel that?"

"(Great, now the monkey is going crazy.) No, Great Leader." Edwin sneered, before folding his arms. "What is the plan? You usually make one."

"Standard tactics, really. Xzar is on dispel and counter duty, you light it up and hit it as hard as you can with your spells, Hexxat will ambush while Haer'Dalis goes into a defensive spin. I'll provide cover and distract as needed." The archer tested the bowstring, grunting slightly before drawing an arrow and nocking it. "Everyone ready?"

They nodded, those of them that could at least. Imoen was left out in the hall as the rest stepped through and into the small room. Damiondred glanced back at her before he his head over the edge of the pit. Glowing red eyes met his own, before a creature of fire and scales hauled itself out. Twelve feet tall, with forward curving horns and bat-like wings, it was wreathed in fire and rumbled out a chuckle as it drew a flaming sword from its side and teased the whip off of its other hip.

"Oh, how quaint, the little sausages sent taller, meatier prospects to try their hand at banishing me."

The whip cracked through the air, before it was upon them.

"Scatter!" The Bhaalspawn watched the world flicker grey, taking a moment to study the demon (devil?) and mentally lining up his first shot. Haer'Dalis had gotten a head start, moving in even as it started to talk, and he had a fairly solid defense. Hexxat was perched on the ceiling, lined up for where she could jump down. He knew the two casters behind him were already prepared, in fact Edwin had already launched into his first spell. Satisfied, he relaxed and let the world around him begin moving once more and fired his first shot. It scraped off of the scales and clattered against the wall.

Haer'Dalis caught the first blow of the creatures sword, and was almost crushed under the weight behind it for all that he managed to slide it to the side. It hit the ground with a heavy thud before he dropped abruptly to the ground as the sword came sweeping across and on an upwards angle. It clipped the tiefling and sent him sprawling to the side where he rolled and regained his feet, grinning viciously as he brandished both daggers and shouted.

"Ahhh, mayhap THIS will be the end!"

His cry drew another rumbled chuckle from the creature as it lashed back without looking, catching Hexxat by surprise and about the waist with the whip and hurling her towards the archer and two casters. Xzar stepped forward, catching her with a grunt to try and prevent her from slamming into Edwin and ruining his spell as it went off. The fire elemental he had conjured turned towards the creature only to catch the now flaming sword across the chest, staggering against the wall where it smouldered fitfully and recovered. Frowning, the archer fired off a second arrow and hit the creature dead center in the chest, and stared blankly as it bounced off and clattered against the floor.

"Ohh, I like that look." It grinned at the bhaalspawn, red lips pulling back to reveal yellowish, jagged teeth before looking down at the blade and almost casually driving its sword down through his torso. "The first step to despair! You cannot hurt me, no more than the little sausages could, the biting of gnats against the hide of a god!"

Hexxat hit it in the side, driving the short sword up and blinking as it sank deep before it was wrenched from her grasp, the creature having turned and back handed her into the wall. It ignored the fire elemental and the ineffective way it slammed its fists against its hide in favour of advancing on the archer and the two casters. One caster, the archer realized as the fire elemental went berserk and started lashing out at everything and anything that was close to it, and he glanced back in time to see only thin air where Edwin had been. Xzar looked at him and gave him a slight shove, smiling softly.

"Run."

The whip coiled about the necromancer's waist before plucking him from where he stood and slamming him against the ground. Damiondred took two steps and saw his sister was also gone. Closing his eyes, he thought that if he could feel such, he would likely have been thankful that at least the Thavian had snagged her before bolting before he turned back to the creature as it brought its sword to bear. It wouldn't be much time, but he would buy what time he could.

* * *

"Did... Anyone else feel that?"

"(Great, now the monkey is going crazy.) No, Great Leader." Edwin sneered, before folding his arms. "What is the plan? You usually make one."

"Standard tacti-" Damiondred paused, only to turn and study the conjurer for a long moment. "... Say there was something twelve feet tall, with forward sweeping horns in there. Red scaled hide, wreathed in fire. Flaming sword in one hand, burning whip in the other. Would you say the appropriate course of action would be to call up a fire elemental, hope that its inherent fire resistance protected it from the elemental damage before running for your life?"

The Thavian pondered for a moment before nodding. "If it was what you described? Very much so."

"Why? What fits that description?"

"(As if I would stay to fight such a thing!) A type six demon. I would have said it had the possibility of being a pit fiend, but no. The weapons you describe are unique to the Balor." He adjusted his robes somewhat, before his eyes darted to the doorway. "... Though sometimes they wield swords made of lightning. Why? You have a supernatural knack for calling a situation. Do you think there is one in there?"

"... Leader?" Xzar peered at him, frowning as he was waved away.

"Edwin, how would you kill something like that, with what we have?" Damiondred refocused on the Thavian as he frowned.

"The only weapons we have that might scratch it would be Hexxat's sword, and the daggers you gave to Haer'Dalis."

"So my arrows would bounce off of it?"

"Yes, Damiondred. They would be ineffective. (Is that not what I just implied?)" Edwin's upper lip curled into a sneer once more before glancing towards the doorway and then down the halls.

"Right." The bhaalspawn started to strip down, carefully laying his weapons aside before his shirt and pants joined them. "Everyone stays out here for a minute."

"Leader-" The necromancer hissed the word out, reaching forward to clutch at his shoulder even as he stepped closer. "You cannot be seriously-"

"I can understand your worry. I know how to control it, and I have about fourty seconds once a day if I really push it before I start risking death." The archer reached out to gently remove Xzar's hand from him, patting it and turning to face the doorway. "Remember. One minute. Haer'Dalis, Hexxat, if it's still up by the end of that, there shouldn't be much left for you to finish off. Xzar, you're in charge of dragging me out of there after that amount of time and Edwin... I'd appreciate it if you didn't run away until at least two people were dead. We still have a chance otherwise."

"B-but..." His priest curled slightly, shoulders hunching as an ugly, miserable look crossed his face. "... I will count. On the fourty fifth measure I enter."

"I suppose I'll have to accept that then. Just make sure you start after I change."

* * *

Damiondred peered down into the pit, and glowing red eyes met his own before a creature of fire and scales hauled itself out. Twelve feet tall, with forward curving horns and bat-like wings, it was wreathed in fire and rumbled out a chuckle as it drew a flaming sword from its side and teased the whip off of its other hip.

"Oh, how quaint, the little sausages sent a taller, meatier prospect to try their hand at banishing me." It paused, squinting down at him. "... Are you naked?"

"Very naked." Damiondred agreed as he tucked his hands on his hips, puffing his cheeks out. "I have to ask, you -are- a Balor, right? A type six demon? One of the ones powerful enough to send conjurers fleeing at the very prospect?"

It threw back its head and laughed. "In all my millennia, I have _never_ been faced down by a naked man before. You've -tickled- me, mortal, so i'll humour your last request of a question. I am. Are those your companions, hiding outside by the door?"

"In all my years, I've never faced down a demon naked before, so I'll humour your last request of a question. They are."

It threw back its head as it laughed, wheezing for a moment as the crackle of twisting bones and tearing flesh drew its attention. Burning red eyes met pools of black, slitted black irises contracting as two points of white met them. It looked down at the Slayer, a mere two feet shorter and all sinuous muscle lined with spikes as the bhaalspawn looked up at it before the balor bellowed and brought the sword up.

It wasn't fast enough, as the Slayer bound forward and abruptly skittered aside to dodge, claws raking across to tear deep furrows across the demons chest and then grunting as the whip was abandoned in favour of a straight punch that rocketed into the Slayers stomach. Damiondred staggered back, dropping one clawed hand to touch his stomach gently before looking back up to the demon. Black and red mottled scales shifted as he grinned before flexing his tail behind him. Two experimental steps taught him how it altered his balance, and he lowered his head before charging.

The balor stepped forward, slashing the sword across and scraping it across the bhaalspawn's scales, sending fragments scattering across the ground with the faintest splatter of blood before it brought it down once more, snarling. Damiondred sidestepped the blade, before turning slightly and catching the demon with his shoulder, driving it back against the wall. It reversed its grip before snarling as the Slayer trapped one hand against the wall and clawing with its free hand, trying to pry the bhaalspaawn off of it. It managed to gain the slightest bit of space, only to stiffen as fanged jaws closed about its throat, bit deep, and then tore back.

It dropped the sword to its other hand before trying to slam the blade down and through Damiondred's back, catching it across the spines that deflected the majority of the blow, spoiling the aim so that it scraped down across the flank and side instead as the Slayer lurched forward, teeth snapping about the bloodied mess that was the demons neck and tearing the gasping, wheezing balor's head off. The body shuddered, before red lines began to suffuse the skin, growing brighter rapidly.

Xzar watched from the doorway, eyes wide as the demon exploded in a burst of concussive force and flame, throwing the Slayer back and causing him to skitter and slide as he fought to keep his feet. Wisps of smoke curled off of him before he looked back to note the necromancer and lifted one hand up, fingers folded with the thumb pointed towards the ceiling. The hand lowered as Damiondred went down onto all fours and focused through the impending pain of the transformation back.


	12. Chapter 12

"-And he was stark naked!" The Balor snarled, slamming its (His, as the demon liked to identify as. Considering every time they advanced through the ranks they gained a new form, gender was more a concept and perception by the masses if it wasn't a personal point of preference) fist down onto the table, rumbling and growling. A succubus nearby sputtered slightly, having sucked some wine down the wrong tube before turning her head and tucking the back of a hand against her mouth. After a moment to regain her composure and eavesdrop a little longer to confirm a description, she excused herself from the pit around the bonfire and stepped away, raising her hands to weave them through a teleportation spell that sent her to the blasted tree that served as one of the less known doors that led to Sigil.

* * *

Tenterni sighed contently as he sprawled out in his bath, the milky waters swirling about him at a scalding temperature and warming him nicely. It was a fancy thing, marble and inset into the ground as he watched illusions play across the ceiling that depicted and recounted previous points of history in the mortal world. To his left, two succubi were grooming each other with little more than their tongues and giggling all the while, even as a grey scaled figure sat on the edge of the bath and kicked her feet through it. She was small, for now, an ash grey with matching shaggy hair and claws her progenitor would have been proud of.

"See, my little ashling? These mortals are terribly prone to making their own mistakes, to jealousy and hatred. They covet each other's things."

The experimental creature rumbled, frowning as she squinted upwards. "... They... fight lots?"

"Yes, my little ashling, they fight quite a lot." Too perfect lips curled upwards as the incubus reached out to gently pat one of the rough, scaled feet, marveling at how the concept made her perk up and positively beam despite the lack of lips that covered her teeth. The door to the bath opened and he glanced towards it to note a somewhat dirt smudged succubus stepping in and dipping into a low bow.

"My Lord Incineratus?"

"Tenterni, please. Incineratus is... Not the name I chose for myself. What brings a lovely little thing like you all the way from the front?" Wings shifting and pushing against the bath, the incubus shifted and partially stood to study the newcomer properly and tisk. "You poor thing, come and join me in the bath. You look to need it more than I."

"I found him. I found the mortal you took an interest in." She drew herself up and strutted across the tile floor, shedding the scraps of fabric that she had counted as her clothing before stepping down into the bath. The incubus clasped her hands gently and settled her down into the milky liquid before sitting down next to her and starting to gently sponge the grime off of her with a soft smile.

"Tell me more, my dear."

* * *

"This... Ball-spawn?" The ashling muttered, frowning as she watched the pleased and sated succubus flit out through the window, clothing tucked under one arm. "Fights?"

"Hmm~? Oh. Yes, quite often." Tenterni lazed back in the tub as the two succubi that had kept to themselves finished draining the tub and cleaned the last of the grime from it.

"Can... I fight?"

"Goodness, no. Not yet, at any rate. Wait until you are a little bigger, at least. I want you to be able to bend steel like one of the silicone toys before you can leave here. That way, you have a sporting chance."

The experimental creature frowned, nose wrinkling as she hunkered down, claws flexing. "But... I wanna."

"Tell you what." Tenterni turned slightly to better watch his little chunk of demon and devil all wrapped into one as the bath began to fill with a milky white liquid once more. "Beat up your brother. If you win, then I will let you go to the mortal realm to fight the bhaalspawn. You need to choose a name as well, my little ashling, before you go."

She perked right back up, beaming at that.

* * *

Viconia was... Not having a good day. First, the ship she and the bear had been on had set out from the harbor with a new captain and, after _bearly_ a day, gotten attacked by Gith. What made matters worse was that not only was it attacked by gith who were looking for a sword of some kind that had reportedly been on the ship until recently, it was then attacked by sahuagin. The latter force drove the former off even as the ship sank, and now she was in an underwater city with only a bear at her side and her equipment on hand.

Wilson looked at her curiously as the sahuagin finished their spell and began to talk, and she shook her head before doing her best to remain attentive to what they asked of her.

* * *

The bed was too small, and he knew right away that he was splayed sideways across two by how it felt like there were pillows against one side and blankets against the other. The bhaalspawn opened his eyes and grimaced, trying to dismiss the ache in his bones as he took stock of the room. Hexxat was awake and leaning against the wall to keep an eye on where their group was settled as well as an eye on the doorway. Edwin and Imoen were settled into a corner, while the top of xzar's mop of slightly curly graham coloured hair was visible just over one of the footboards as if he had dozed off while leaning back against one from where he had sat on the floor. Haer'Dalis snored contently from a few feet away, also stretched out over two beds.

"You should go back to sleep."

"Thank you, Hexxat, but I feel like I should stretch before I do. What happened? The last thing I remember I was focusing on changing back." He sat up, pressing a palm against one eye and rubbing it in circles. As he moved, pain flared across his side and he glanced over to see where a line of what felt like stitches were covered by bandages.

"You did, and then you collapsed. Xzar tended to your wounds." The vampire pushed herself off the wall and made her way across the room before smiling slightly. "You killed a demon. That was impressive."

"What's more impressive is that I didn't die while doing it. I have a question, though. Vampires can mentally dominate people, right?" Damiondred gingerly felt at his side, trying to determine how many stitches he had needed. A few across his shoulderblade and a handful down his side, it seemed. "Could you pull someone's mind out from where they've retreated to escape trauma?"

"It... Is a possibility. The mind retreats because it cannot cope, so you would have to deal with that. Such things are damaging to the mind."

"I want you to try with Imoen. I want my sister back, it's what I've been working towards and I don't want her to get killed because she couldn't defend herself. She's a powerful mage in her own right, we could use her fighting with us." Dark eyes flicked up to briefly rest on the two in the corner, before he nodded. "It will hamper Edwin less, as well, if he doesn't have to lead her along by the hand."

"Very well. When do you want to try?" The vampire followed his gaze, frowning. "Surely when you have rested and healed more?"

"No, there's no time like the present. I don't run on that much sleep anyways."

"Six hours will start to hinder you as you begin to cast the more powerful spells, Leader." Xzar blinked blearily up at them as he turned and peered over the footboard. "An hour per tier of power the spell requires, 'lest there be a work around though they must oft be inspired. Casting under duress works best for a sorcerer of Baeloth's like."

"I'm told you stitched me up. Thank you, Xzar." The bhaalspawn managed a slight smile, watching the necromancer as he stood up.

"We were given a jewel of light to scatter shadows dark as night. Should we chase them, do not fight for what lies behind outstrips our might." Xzar produced a glowing gemstone with a flourish, bowing slightly.

"Speaking in rhymes now? I wondered what happened after you stopped using so many euphemisms and referring to yourself in the third person. Second person? In plural." Reaching out to accept the gemstone, Damiondred turned it over in his hand as the necromancer yawned and shrugged.

"We got bored of them, largely. Perhaps in time we will cease to rhyme."

"How long has everyone been out, Hexxat?"

"Some ten ish hours, by my best guess. The sun set on the surface a few hours ago."

"Wait, you can feel that from here?" The archer frowned, before rubbing his temples. "Of course you can. Vampire. Otherwise how would you know when to come out without risking it. Let's try and rouse Imoen then, and see if this works."

"If that is what you want." She nodded before following him over to the corner. Edwin's head snapped up as he grumbled, coming into consciousness before rubbing his eyes.

"Yes, what is it now, that you should so disturb me? (I was just getting to the good part in my dream, too. Tch.)"

"We're going to try and wake Imoen up." Damiondred reached and winced as some of his stitches pulled, shifting to swap hands and gently shake his sister awake. Her eyes opened, but nothing much else changed even as he pulled her to her feet. "Hexxat?"

"She should be sitting for this, in case she falls over."

Nodding, the archer gently pulled Imoen over to one of the small beds and sat her down, settling beside her and holding her hand. He glanced between the two before focusing on Imoen as the vampire leaned down to meet her vacant eyes with her own red ones that gained a luminous glow.

"Imoen. That is your name, yes? Hear my voice, see my eyes, and follow both out. Your brother needs you."

The pink-clad thief twitched slightly, turning slowly as if to look away before stilling once more. Hexxat waved a hand in front of her face and then shook her head, glancing at the archer. "I thought it would work. It seemed to start to, but then she must have shaken the effect off."

"She reacted though. Maybe that loosened her grip on nothingness enough that I can pry her free." Damiondred shifted to turn his sister's face towards him, searching her eyes and then leaning forward to rest his forehead against hers. "Immy. Imsy, my sister from... Apparently the same mister. Immy we need you. I, need you. I know scary things have happened, and that I couldn't protect you from them but... I can't do this without you. We're going to find Bhodi, and Irenicus-"

She flinched slightly, and closed her eyes as the archer wrapped his arms around her and rocked gently. "-I know, he hurt you. He hurt me, too. But, you have to listen to me. You're braver than that. You rescued Scar when he was fleeing the assault on the flaming fist headquarters in Baldur's Gate. You survived the poisoning after that, you survived the attack and you survived what that bastard did to us the first time. We're going to find them, and we're going to hurt them. We're going to take back our souls but I can't do that properly without you. I don't want you to get killed because you couldn't fight. C'mon, Imoen, we need you."

The thief remained limp against him, and he sighed as he released her.

"... We tried. We'll try again tomorrow."


	13. Chapter 13

He had expected meeting a dragon would have been awe inspiring, but thought perhaps that the way his emotions were largely deadened must have taken the edge off. They stood before the massive silver wyrm, Xzar shaking as he huddled close to the dark haired bhaalspawn while the rest of the party waited closer to the door. Damiondred would have sent the Necromancer back too, except that his priest had insisted. 

"You want us to steal back silver dragon eggs the size of my head, fertilized by the spirit of your dead husband that died to a nameless evil, that were initially stolen by Irenicus and given to the drow to ensure that you couldn't move against them?"

The massive silver snout nodded, and Adalon slowly flexed her wings as the archer studied the way she held herself poised. "Only drow may enter the city. I will ensure you are properly disguised, that none may pierce to the truth of your identity. You must save my children-"

Holding up a hand and tilting his head to the side, Damiondred stepped forward and stalled her as he tried to smile. 

"You needed only to tell me that Irenicus took them, Great Lady. He and I have a history, and I would not be here without him. Would you help me fight him, after?"

"For the sake of peace, my husband and I stayed and fought. Now that he is gone, all I have left are my unhatched children. I cannot risk their lives again. I am sorry." The great scaled head dipped down, and the archer nodded his understanding even as he turned and gestured for the others by the door to approach. 

"I understand. Everyone! Come, don't be shy. We make for the dark elven city. We have silver dragon eggs to rescue."

* * *

As they exited the lair of the silver dragon, Damiondred found himself getting pulled to a stop by a somewhat confused sounding Xzar as he stared into one of the tunnels that branched from the main one they were currently in. 

"Bear."

"Where?" An eyebrow was quirked as the dark skinned necromancer shook his head and pointed. 

"Bear there."

"Bear-?" Taking a few steps to the side, the archer squinted and studied the passage for a moment. When nothing seemed forthcoming, he started to quietly make his way over and carefully peered around the corner. A mace came across to meet him, and he managed to straighten and turn enough that it only clipped him as he recoiled. While he didn't recognize the weapon, he was familiar with the shield strapped to his attackers other arm and threw up his hands. 

"Vic! Hold! It's Dami!"

The mace paused, and the cleric of Shar stared at him even as her jaw slowly dropped. 

"Damion? Why... _how?_ " Viconia stepped back, lowering the weapon as she eyed him up and down. "You did not have this magic before."

"I still don't. We met a dragon, and agreed to steal back the eggs that Irenicus took. In return, she will help us follow him where he went up to the surface." The Bhaalspawn gestured for both Wilson and her to follow him back to the rest of the group, where she eyed each of them critically and slowly shook her head. "Do you have anything useful on the outpost ahead?" 

"Abbil, this is not a good idea. You surfacers are ignorant of the ways of the Drow. All you will do is get killed-"

"Leader knows." Xzar frowned, reaching out to lightly touch Damiondred's elbow as he drifted between the two of them. "Anything you can tell us, anything at all, would be beneficial and increase our odds. He is set on his course."

"We have to. Otherwise, we have no way through what was described as a well defended, magically warded gate." The archer studied the path that led to the outpost, and took a slow breath. "This will be simple. Get in, steal the eggs, and get out."

"Then I am going with you." The cleric narrowed her eyes, glancing between Damiondred and Xzar. 

"Fine. But we'll regroup first at the swirfanerblin camp just a little bit away."

* * *

"She still has not come out of it?" The question was directed towards the bhaalspawn as he sat on one of the too-small beds. It had taken a moment of diplomacy to convince the deep gnomes that they were, in fact, the same people that had rid them of the demon, but after everything had been smoothed over they were welcomed back into what passed as an inn. Everyone was giving their equipment a final once-over as Viconia studied Imoen. 

"Not yet. Hexxat and I tried something, but she didn't do a whole lot. Is there anything you can do?" 

"Perhaps, abbil. I will need space. Lay her on the floor." Gesturing towards the rough woven rug near by, the cleric moved to kneel beside it as Damiondred started to pull his sister over. It took a moment of coordination for them both to get her to lay down, but eventually she was prone and staring blankly up at the ceiling. "Good. I will tell you now, this is a prayer designed to bring someone back from the bring to a fully healthy state. To cure the curse of feeblemind, blindness and disease of the body and the mind. If this does not work... It will be a very long time before I have anything better."

"I wonder if that's what was used on you, Xzar." A glance was aimed towards his priest as he settled down onto the floor. 

"It is... -possible-. Certainly not _im_ possible, at the least." The necromancer idly gnawed on a thumbnail. "I was somewhat distracted at that moment, Leader."

"I have faith that this will work then. Viconia, whenever you are ready."

* * *

There was something cathartic, to the way she had turned and spun and wound herself into a tight little ball. It was dark, it was silent, and there was nothing that could _hurt_ her there. She had heard, faintly, the voice of a woman that she didn't know and then the voice of Damiondred, but she knew that _he_ could fake such things. That _he_ liked to, even, for _his_ little experiments. This meant that as long as she stayed where she was, the way she was, _he_ couldn't hurt her. 

Time was meaningless. A gentle, soft female voice that was familiar eventually wrapped around her, and the soothing darkness that sheltered her _moved_. It was slow, at first, until all at once she found it unraveling from around her like so much thread. Like a blanket, that was being gently lifted from her if she had slept in. 

She fought it, as best she could, but she just didn't have the strength to. 

Imoen opened her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what, I -miss- Baeloth.


	14. Chapter 14

Damiondred wore a smile across his face. 

He had spent the last ten minutes practicing it as Viconia explained the situation as best she could to Imoen, up to and including why the party currently looked dark skinned and _elvish_. The necromancer had held a mirror for him and made suggestions to make the whole expression seem at lest a little bit more natural, though it still felt mostly foreign. It was done at Xzar's suggestion, during which his priest had insinuated that it might help gauge how much emotion his sister had lost. 

Imoen reached out and touched his shoulder to draw him out of his practice, and he turned to offer it to her even as she blinked at him. The mirror was subtly tucked away into green robes, before the necromancer subtly eased away so that the two of them could speak more or less privately, for all that it was a wide open room. Really, that meant that most of the party ended up by the door as the two of them settled on a bed. 

"So..." Imoen cleared her throat, and her brother reflexively offered her his waterskin. She took a sip, and tried again. "... He did get you, after all."

"Yes."

"And you're going after him, to get back my-my _soul_ , and yours too?"

"Yes."

The mage took another sip, and then looked down at her hands to idly fiddle with the cap. 

"... Good. I want to come with you."

"I won't lie, we could use your help. But it'll be dangerous, Immy." Reaching out, Damiondred idly nudged her shoulder. "Are you sure?"

"I am. I know I'm not as strong as you, but I'm still _here_." She managed a smile, though it didn't quite match what he knew it should have looked like. No wonder Xzar had made him practice. Which reminded him...

"Xzar is something of an expert on Bhaalspawn. I think you should talk to him, before we leave. He's my priest, but you're my sister. If there's anything he can do to help you, or anything he can explain, I'd like to make sure we do it now while we have a moment. After you were taken, he found me. He looked me over, made sure nothing permanent had been done and that I was healthy."

"He protected me, in Spellhold." Taking another sip, the pink-haired mage let her smile fade. "He bit off someone's ear. I remember that. They tried to attack me, and when I saw his face after I knew he was sane, that you'd sent him-"

"I didn't send him. He sent himself. Which was foolish of him, really." Damion reached out to collect the waterskin from his sister and wiped at the rim for a moment. Looking down at it, he slowly shook his head and took a sip. "... There was no guarantee that you were even still there. We just had to hope that Irenicus hadn't escaped and taken you somewhere else. When he got here he must have started praying, because I could hear him in my dreams at times. Bits about you."

"So he's... He's really got a-a connection to you?" She turned the matter over in her mind, taking the waterskin back and wiping the rim. 

"He used to be one of Bhaal's clergy, pretty high up there in the ranks. Even insane, he could feel a familiar power in my blood, and as it started to manifest more and more he started to pay closer attention. I'm sure somewhere in the back of his mind he's still planning to sacrifice me to get his god back, but until then he's mine." Clasping his hands in his lap, the archer looked over to the group by the door. They were mostly lounging around, looking bored. 

Except for Xzar. Vibrant green eyes remained intent on both bhaalspawn as he silently stared and chewed on the remains of his fingernails. 

"We've come to understand that he can draw on my powers, whatever of them I've got left. Without my soul, it's largely Bhaalspawn taint, it seems. Should I call him over to talk with you?"

"Yeah, Dami. Maybe... maybe it'll help."

* * *

_"Be gentle with her."_

Xzar's eyes tracked the archer as Damiondred went and pulled Edwin into a quiet conversation. He could guess what it was about, even as he mulled over his instructions. Be -gentle- with her. Her, being Imoen. Gentle, likely referring to how he was to answer whatever questions she likely had. Curiosity was a... well, a -curious- thing, considering she very likely didn't have much in the way of proper, fully formed emotions at the moment. 

Maybe the damage between them was different. Maybe it had to do with how little of her was infused with Bhaal's blood. One drop, or three? What was the _difference?_

"Xzar, d'you remember the last time we really spoke? Not the time after Baldur's Gate, but before." 

"Ahh, the Pink Mink speaks of screaming sausages and pouches full of fingers?" Tearing his gaze away from Damiondred, the necromancer pulled his feet up onto the bed to sit cross-legged and rested his elbows against his knees. "Yes. An oblique question, considering the implied topic."

"Sort've. That's why you were watching him, isn't it. Because of his blood. And mine."

"Yes and no. Leader held the most _active_ amount, made blatant through time and practice, but you... Oh, there have been a -few- times I thought _maybe_ there was more to you, but never certain. No, not that." Neatly folding his hands in his lap, Xzar studied the pink-haired bhaalspawn for a long moment. Were her emotions stronger than Leader's? Hard to tell, hard to tell... "Maybe if I had sought, maybe if I had searched, but there were _other_ things to occupy the time with."

"Like what?"

"Watching Leader's back. Playing the Thavian against the Sorcerer, and the Sorcerer against the Thavian. Fretting over where the rest of my blood was. A crisis of _faith_." Lifting one hand to his mouth, he thoughtfully chewed on one of his nails as he narrowed his eyes. "Do you love him?"

Imoen blinked. "What kind've question is that? Of course I love him. He's my brother."

The necromancer rifled through memories of bhaalspawn pit against one another like so much old mail. None of them had refused to attack each other or fought to protect one another. It was all more of the same, rending, tearing strikes with intent to gleefully kill. Was it the upbringing that was different? No. Even with most of his emotions deadened, Damion tended to subconsciously and instinctively try and-

Xzar blinked, before a slow smile spread across his face. 

"Oh. Oh oh _oh_. That's what it is, isn't it. Hardwired in through hard work during the developmental stages. You and leader were _very_ close as children, weren't you." 

"We grew up together. Dami always did seem to be the odd one out, tryin' to keep to himself. There weren't really many other kids around, either." Pink Mink smiled slightly, and the necromancer nodded in a show of understanding. 

"I was told you were close. I neglected to factor that in. He told me you saved him? Freed him, before you were taken?" As her expression soured, Xzar raised his hands and flapped them at her, trying to distract her. "Nix. Belay that. Such things are best left in the past, ne?"

"It's okay, Xzar. He _really_ trusts you, doesn't he." Imoen dropped her gaze to her knees, picking up the waterskin that her brother had left behind before starting to fiddle with the lid. "It was... horrible. He kept tryin' to escape, and it just kept getting _worse_ for him. When I got myself free and found him, he was trapped under a big board with all these heavy rocks on it. He thought I wasn't real. I couldn't blame 'im either. _He_ made me watch, every time he cut into him with a knife. I couldn't..."

"He'd cut, and then ask 'Do you see?'."

No wonder Damiondred had been so _angry_ , thought the necromancer. Not only because of what had happened to him and that his sister was taken away, but because of what was taken away from his sister. He had fought hard to preserve Pink Mink's innocence, and Irenicus had taken it away. 

"Would Pink Mink like a story?" Shifting from the bed he sat on, Xzar stepped closer and then turned to sit beside Imoen and reached to take her hands in his. 

She smiled at him. A tired, barely-there thing that barely held up. Imoen nodded her head. 

* * *

Once upon a time, in a land far away- no, no that wasn't right. 

It was a dark and stormy night- No, not that one either. 

A lion lay asleep in a forest- (That false start and dramatic pursing of his lips in thought drew the slightest of giggles from her.)

Badgers are ornery creatures. This is _known_. Often, they are so ill tempered that everything else avoids them. They lash out. When grouped together, they are called _clans_ and in these _clans_ there is something known as a _pecking order_. The weak, serve the strong. In turn, the strong defend the weak. 

It is _instinct_. They are ill tempered. When provoked, good luck getting one to stop fighting unless you manage to outrun it. 

Because of this, badger cubs are rambunctious. If attacked, their cries will echo for _leagues_ , and if any badger recognizes that sound well, then...

One day, a jaguar attacked a badger cub. That cub cried out, trying to defend itself, but could not. The jaguar had caught it by surprise, you see. 

Another cub from the same litter heard it, though. And while it was not as big as the jaguar, nor as strong, it charged right in. Do you know what happened?

It _bit_ the jaguar. 

The jaguar, surprised, ran. 

When it tried to come back, that second cub bristled all it's fur out, and made the most awful sound, promising with every ounce of fury within it's body that if that jaguar wanted it's litter-mate, then by the _gods_ was it going to pay for it. They fought, and every time the jaguar thought it had rolled the badger cub over and could get at the soft stomach, that first cub bit it on the tail. And every time the jaguar thought it had the _first_ cub beaten into the ground, the second bit it in the balls.

Between the two of them, they harried that big cat until it lay, bleeding out between them. 

The moral of the story is that one big enemy, strong as it may seem, will always fall to coordinated strikes from small ones. And, more importantly, that the instinct to never stop fighting can, sometimes, carry you through the worst of times.

* * *

Imoen frowned at him, and for a moment Xzar thought that maybe he hadn't told a very good story after all. 

"We're the badgers aren't we. And _He's_ the jaguar."

"When Leader gets to him, Pink Mink, he will _change_. He will grow large, spiked and _angry_. Leader will going to _tear off Irenicus' balls_. Will you help him? Help give him reasons to hold on?"

The pink haired mage smiled. It was a _true_ smile, one that said things like 'I want to see that' and 'I can't wait'. The necromancer thought that maybe, just maybe the hunting instinct had found a home within her too. Xzar matched it with one of his own.


End file.
